TALLAHASSEE — A 27-year-old Tallahassee man faces 46 counts of filing false claims against the United States through fraudulent federal tax forms, while a 47-year-old convicted felon was separately indicted on federal gun and drug charges, U.S. Attorney John P. Heekin for the Northern District of Florida announced this week.
Jonquaris Richardson, 27, was indicted on the 46 fraud counts and appeared for arraignment before United States Magistrate Judge Martin A. Fitzpatrick in Tallahassee. If convicted, Richardson faces up to five years’ imprisonment on each count. The case is being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Justin M. Keen.
The indictment comes as the Department of Justice has created the National Fraud Enforcement Division, whose core mission is to investigate and prosecute those who steal or fraudulently misuse taxpayer dollars. The division supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse within federal benefit programs.
In the separate case, Christopher Lamar Daniels, 47, of Tallahassee, was indicted for possession with intent to distribute multiple controlled substances, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Daniels faces a minimum mandatory prison sentence of 10 years’ to life imprisonment on the drug possession count and a consecutive five years’ imprisonment for carrying a firearm during a drug-trafficking crime. If his prior felony convictions qualify him as an Armed Career Criminal, Daniels faces a minimum mandatory 15 years’ imprisonment, and up to life, on the felon-in-possession charge.
Daniels also appeared before Magistrate Judge Fitzpatrick in Tallahassee. The case is being jointly investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Tallahassee Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney James A. McCain. The Daniels case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel illegal immigration, achieve the elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect communities from violent crime.
An indictment is merely an allegation by a grand jury that a defendant has committed a violation of federal criminal law and is not evidence of guilt. “All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated.
Both Richardson and Daniels are scheduled for jury trial on June 15, 2026, before District Court Judge Robert L. Hinkle in Tallahassee.