Akron Woman Gets Day in Jail for $200K Tax Scam

AKRON, OH – Kelly Prigmore, 43, of Akron, Ohio, barely spent a night behind bars after being sentenced to one day in prison for a brazen tax fraud scheme. She also received two years of supervised release, with the first ten months to be served under location-monitored home confinement. The sentencing, handed down by U.S. District Judge Benita Y. Pearson in Youngstown, Ohio, is a slap on the wrist for a woman who deliberately cheated the system, according to sources within the Internal Revenue Service.

Prigmore was convicted last August following a two-day trial where evidence revealed she failed to report over $200,000 in income earned as a self-employed home health care provider for the 2006 and 2007 tax years. She walked into H&R Block and intentionally lied, claiming to be a homemaker and falsely portraying herself and her husband as a low-income family eligible for Earned Income Credits and hefty tax refunds. It was a calculated attempt to defraud the government, and for a while, it worked.

Court records show Prigmore reported a paltry $8,600 in income for 2006, conveniently omitting approximately $96,686 earned through her home health care business. In 2007, the deception continued, with a reported income of $8,990 while concealing another $112,795. The scheme was simple, but the scale of the unreported income is significant, raising questions about the extent of her fraudulent activity.

Judge Pearson didn’t just hand down a light prison sentence. She also ordered Prigmore to complete 192 hours of community service – eight hours a week spread over six months of home confinement. Beyond that, Prigmore must undergo mental health treatment and is strictly prohibited from any gambling activities. The supervising probation officer has the discretion to mandate a gambling treatment program, acknowledging a potential underlying issue contributing to her criminal behavior.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys John M. Siegel and Perry D. Mastrocola, who prosecuted the case, secured the conviction after a thorough investigation by the IRS Criminal Investigation unit in Akron. The Court also directed Prigmore to cooperate fully with the IRS in the payment of all unpaid taxes, a detail that often gets lost in these cases but is crucial to recovering stolen funds. Prigmore was taken into immediate custody shortly before noon, but released the following afternoon, having served her symbolic one-day sentence.

While Prigmore avoided significant jail time, the terms of her supervised release will keep her under scrutiny for the next two years. Whether this is enough to deter similar offenses remains to be seen. The Grimy Times will continue to follow this case and report on any further developments. This case highlights the IRS’s continued commitment to pursuing even seemingly small-time tax fraud, sending a message that no one is above the law.

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