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A federal jury convicted two men last week on charges of conspiring to defraud the United States and claim more than $5.5 million in false tax refunds.

Thomas Arrona Johnson, 56, of Burtonsville, and Harry James Williams, 46, of Clarksburg, were convicted last week after filing false individual and trust tax returns with the IRS that claimed refunds to which they were not entitled throughout 2008 and 2009, according to a press release issued by the Office of the U.S. Attorney of the District of Maryland. The two men also caused others to do the same, the release said. Both men represented themselves in the case, according to spokeswoman Marcia Murphy of the Office of the U.S. Attorney of the District of Maryland.

The defendants face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for the conspiracy and five years in prison on each of eight counts of submitting false claims. Chief U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow scheduled sentencing for Nov. 15 at 11 a.m.

Based on the false returns, the U.S. Treasury paid more than $1 million in fraudulently claimed refunds, according to the press release.

Witnesses also testified that Johnson and Williams told others that they could reduce or eliminate their debt, including mortgage, credit card and other debt. The two would prepare amended individual income tax returns that falsely reported that income tax had been withheld in amounts that substantially exceeded the amount of tax paid, according to evidence. The returns claimed tax refunds that amounted to the approximated debt they said they would eliminate, the release said.

The defendants filed and caused others to file more than a dozen tax returns that reported $7 million in fraudulent withholding taxes and claimed $5.5 million in fraudulent tax refunds, evidence presented at the trial showed.

In a related case, Al David Toler, 41, of Silver Spring entered a guilty plea July 23 for conspiring to defraud the United States and submitting a false claim for a tax refund of more than $48,000, the release said. Online records were not available for Toler's case.