Florida Tax Preparer Charged 5 Years Ago With Stealing Has Done It Again, Cops Say

By Chris Tisch, Tampa Bay Times (TNS)

A Largo, FL, man arrested five years ago on charges that he stole more than $300,000 from clients who hired him to pay their taxes has been accused of doing the same thing while out on bail awaiting trial.

Dennis Maxey was arrested in 2019 on charges of grand theft and scheme to defraud, both first-degree felonies.

Largo police say Maxey stole the money over several years from a handful of people after they paid him to do their taxes. An investigation determined he never paid the IRS and gave clients varying excuses when confronted about it. One victim lost $227,000, records state.

He was released on bail and his case has sputtered through the court system, including several lawyer changes.

On April 18, Maxey, 77, was arrested again on a scheme to defraud charge.

Police said Maxey again was hired by someone to do their taxes in 2023 and to get a Small Business Administration loan. But Maxey didn’t pay any of the taxes or apply for the loan and gave excuses to the client, an arrest report states.

The client lost nearly $26,000, reports state.

Records show Maxey has faced criminal charges before. He was charged with grand theft in Tallahassee in 1983 after police said he stole more than $15,000 in jewelry and money from a jewelry store that he managed. He also was charged with grand theft, dealing in stolen property and fraud in 1986 in Leon County; and again was charged with grand theft in 2004, also in Leon County, records show.

His bail in the 2019 case out of Largo has been revoked and he is being held at the Pinellas County Jail.

He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

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