On Wednesday, November 20, 2013, Jean Samuel Gai pled guilty in Fulton County Superior Court to ten Counts of Forgery in the First Degree (O.C.G.A. § 16-9-1) for forging and depositing stolen income tax refund checks.

In July of 2010, Gai deposited 11 Georgia Department of Revenue (DOR) income tax refund checks totaling over $14,000 that had been stolen from the United States Postal Service. Each check contained the forged signature of the taxpayer to whom the refund check was payable.

Gai was sentenced by Judge Walter Lovette under the First Offender Act to ten years probation, 300 hours of community service and restitution of $13,552.61 to Bank of America and $696 to DOR. As a special condition of his probation, he is prohibited from being involved in the tax preparation business.

Assistant Attorney General Daniel Hiatt and former Assistant Attorney General Shepard Orlow prosecuted the case on behalf of the State of Georgia. The case was investigated by Special Agent Douglas Legg of DOR.