Elizabeth Lucero, Tax Evasion, Kansas 2024

Elizabeth Lucero, 53, of Basehor, Kan., stole more than $856,000 in federal employment taxes from her own workers and the U.S. government — and now she’s going to prison for it. The owner of Sunshine Home Health Care was sentenced Tuesday to a year and a day in federal custody after pleading guilty to willful failure to collect or pay over employment tax, a crime that gutted her employees’ trust and cheated the IRS for years.

From 2007 to 2011, Lucero’s company, which served 1,400 patients and employed 65 to 70 workers, withheld federal income, Medicare, and Social Security taxes from employee paychecks. But instead of sending that money to the IRS — as the law demands — Lucero pocketed it. The business stayed profitable, yet not a single payment was made to the federal government during those years.

Even as her accountant warned her to comply, Lucero funneled company funds into her personal life like a criminal ATM. She used business accounts to cover hundreds of thousands in personal expenses, including $50,000 for a Cadillac Escalade and repeated cash withdrawals at casinos — money fed into gambling binges while her employees’ taxes piled up in unpaid debt.

At sentencing, prosecutors emphasized the betrayal: workers believed their taxes were being paid, but Lucero treated their withholdings as her personal slush fund. The U.S. Attorney’s Office confirmed that Lucero has agreed to pay full restitution — $856,784 — though collecting it may be a long fight.

U.S. Attorney Tom Beall, who oversaw the case, called the crime a breach of both law and basic ethics. “This wasn’t an accounting error — it was theft,” Beall said. “She stole directly from her employees and the American taxpayer.”

The Internal Revenue Service led the investigation, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Jabari Wamble prosecuting. The case stands as a stark warning to business owners who think they can skim from payroll — the feds are watching, and they collect their own debts — with interest.