Realtor TPs Warren & Sheri Barry

[Demosthenes]

Trial starts for alleged Cape Coral tax evaders
Cape husband and wife operate real estate agency
BY PAT GILLESPIE
March 11, 2009

The trial of a Cape Coral couple, both real estate agents and charged with not paying income taxes for years, started Tuesday in federal court.

Warren and Sheri Barry, who operate Realty Corner USA Inc. in south Fort Myers, were indicted last April on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and willful failure to file a tax return. If convicted, they face eight years in prison plus taxes owed and fines.

According to an indictment, Sheri Barry, 63, hasn't filed an income tax return since 1987, while Warren Barry, 68, hasn't filed since 2000. Sheri Barry owes more than $200,000 and Warren Barry owes nearly $180,000 in taxes that were due beginning in 2002. Internal Revenue Service agents calculated potential taxes owed since 2002, but not before, according to an indictment.

Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Molloy said the couple are protesting taxation because the U.S. Constitution provides no law requiring income taxes be filed. Sheri Barry's attorney, Alan Richey, said during opening statements Tuesday she didn't wilfully avoid tax payment. Warren Barry, who is representing himself, didn't make an opening statement. The couple are being tried together.

Attorneys selected an eight-woman, four-man jury by Tuesday afternoon, gave opening statements and began presenting witnesses.

During opening statements, Molloy told jurors the couple bought property under their adult children's names, although their children wouldn't be able to afford the loans on their own. The purpose, Molloy said, was to hide the couple's income from the government.

"This case is a case about money; this case is a case about greed," Molloy said. "This case is about absolute stubbornness."

Molloy said the couple threatened IRS agents with a lawsuit and a possible firing if they continued investigating. According to the indictment, both filed with the IRS "registered bills of exchange" - fraudulent money orders - in the amount of $2 million to wipe out their outstanding debts in 2003.

"It actually kind of boggles the mind that people would take a piece of paper and send it to the IRS," Molloy told the jury.

But Richey told jurors Sheri Barry was told by an accountant she didn't have to pay taxes and so she didn't willfully avoid paying taxes.

"It's not about whether something was done wrong," Richey said. "It's whether criminal acts that meet the definition of those crimes were committed. You will find at the end of the day that those aren't crimes."

He said Sheri Barry doesn't like using banks because a family member once defrauded her. After being diagnosed with cervical cancer, she filed the "bills of exchange" hoping they would pay for the owed taxes because she believed she was going to die and wanted to protect her children's money.

Richey said purchasing property in their children's names isn't a crime and they did it because the couple had more real estate experience than their children. Both Barrys are commercial real estate agents and Warren Barry is a Certified Commercial Investment Member, a designation held by about 9,000 people across the world.

"When you look at all of these things, you have to look at what was in the mind of Sheri Redeker Barry," Richey said.

The trial is expected to continue through Friday.

[Demosthenes]

Update: The jury found both defendants guilty on all counts.

[Dezcad]

Sheri Barry's attorney, Alan Richey, said during opening statements Tuesday she didn't wilfully avoid tax payment. Warren Barry, who is representing himself, didn't make an opening statement. The couple are being tried together.

Wasn't Richey also Kent Hovind's attorney?