Hattiesburg man pleads guilty to tax offense involving over $2 million loss

Date: March 9, 2026

Contact: [email protected]

Hattiesburg, MS - A Hattiesburg, Mississippi man pleaded guilty today to failing to pay over funds that were withheld from employee paychecks announced Southern District of Mississippi United States Attorney Baxter Kruger.

According to court documents and information presented to the Court, Duke Kimbrell Rodgers conducted a business under the name Rodgers Family Pharmacy. From 2013 to 2020, Rodgers withheld over $1,500,828.73 from his employees' pay for trust fund taxes. However, he failed to remit those funds to the Government. In addition, because of those withholdings and his failure to remit withholdings from his own paycheck, Rodgers submitted fraudulent personal tax forms that resulted in additional $629,831.00 loss. As part of his plea, Rodgers agreed to pay restitution of over $2 million to the Internal Revenue Service.

Rodgers is scheduled to be sentenced on June 18, 2026. He faces a statutory maximum of 5 years imprisonment.

The Internal Revenue Service is investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Buckner is prosecuting the case.

IRS-CI is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. It is the only federal law enforcement agency with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code. IRS-CI has 18 field offices located across the U.S. and maintains an international presence through attaché posts abroad.