A former candidate for the Richmond School Board is facing two counts of federal tax evasion charges.

Kevin Alphonso Starlings, who ran to represent the 3rd district in the last Board election, was accused of filing false tax returns and defrauding the COVID relief program, according to charges filed in the U.S. District Court earlier this month.

He has been previously convicted of embezzlement three times, including conducting check fraud involving thousands of dollars worth of work on a vehicle in 2023 and stealing $1,359 from the Short Pump Bath and Body Works in 2017. 

Starlings declined to comment on the matter. 

“I really can’t talk much. Based on advisement from council, I just don’t want to do anything to put me in a situation before this is all over,” he told The Richmonder.

Starlings is the sole owner and operator of several businesses – Jeremiah Entertainment, Service Sharks, RVA Tiny Homes, ProSource Property Solutions, Starlings Construction and nonprofit The Starlings Foundation, which are all under his “multi-service company” Starlings Enterprises, he previously told The Richmonder. 

“The defendant’s companies purported to provide a variety of services including property management, cleaning and party supplies such as bounce houses,” the document reads. 

Prosecutors allege he created his own W-2 forms, claiming his companies withheld hundreds of thousands in federal taxes that were never actually paid from 2016 to 2022. The IRS paid Starlings $728,569 in refunds.

For example, in March 2022, he filed a tax form saying that he made $192,479 in tax payments and was entitled to a $184,644 tax return. 

Starlings also allegedly submitted false information on applications to the U.S. Small Business Administration and unemployment agencies to receive COVID-19 relief funds. 

“The defendant knowingly made several materially false and misleading representations about his employment history and current employment status,” prosecutors alleged.

Starlings “falsely described his current employment status as not working” and stated that he received a notice of termination and was laid off from his businesses, despite owning them and later claiming that he earned $628,450 in wages on his tax return for 2020, according to the documents. Lawyers added that he was also still operating the businesses at the time. 

As a result, he received $76,726 in COVID-19 relief funds – $61,726 from unemployment claims and $15,000 from the SBA.

All businesses, excluding RVA Tiny Homes and The Starlings Foundation, are inactive, according to a State Corporation Commission database. The Starlings Foundation is active and RVA Tiny Homes was not found. 

Starlings previously told The Richmonder that a psychologist diagnosed him with kleptomania after his second conviction and that he has since sought treatment and therapy when running for the 3rd District School Board seat.

He said then he believed that he could still execute financial oversight duties as a School Board member when he ran in 2024. He lost to current member Ali Faruk. 

Starlings is still involved with Richmond schools, as he shared in a social media post late January that he signed up to be a founding member of the parent teacher association at John Marshall High School. 

He told The Richmonder that he is not a founding member, but rather a “community supporter” of the PTA and “supported donations” to get it started. The post he uploaded to social media was a matter of “copy and paste to share the flyer.”

“Because it just started, we’re titled as founding members,” he said. 

Contact Reporter Victoria A. Ifatusin at vifatusin@richmonder.org