Fresno, CA – A federal grand jury returned an indictment today charging Kristopher Thomas, 36, Charmane Dozier, 44, Kettisha Thompson-Dozier, 55, and Sharon Vance, 36, with conspiracy to commit tax fraud.
Thomas is currently serving a 50-year to life sentence at the Kern Valley State Prison (KVSP) in Delano, California, for a gang-related murder that he committed in the Los Angeles area in 2010. Dozier is married to Thompson-Dozier, who is Thomas’ mother, and they live in Waldorf, Maryland. Vance is one of Thomas’ girlfriends and lives in Hawthorne, California.
The defendants were previously arrested in February 2024 on a federal criminal complaint. A DEA investigation found that Thomas was leading a drug trafficking organization operating in Delano from his prison cell at KVSP using contraband cellphones and prison-issued tablets.
Intercepted drug-related communications to and from Thomas’ cellphones and tablets showed that he was also running a multimillion-dollar tax fraud scheme with Dozier, Thompson-Dozier, and Vance.
The defendants’ tax fraud scheme exploited the IRS Employee Retention Credit (ERC). The ERC was enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic to encourage businesses to retain their employees by giving the businesses thousands of dollars in refundable tax credits per employee retained from March 2020 through December 2021.
From January 2022 through July 2023, the defendants filed hundreds of fraudulent payroll tax returns claiming over $550 million in tax refunds. The refunds were sought on behalf of over 100 businesses and several million dollars was actually paid out. The money was used for personal expenditures, including jewelry and trips to Disney World and Las Vegas.
This case is the product of an investigation by IRS Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph Barton and Jeffrey Spivak are prosecuting the case. If convicted, the defendants each face maximum statutory penalties of 10 years in prison.
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Key Facts
- State: California
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes|Drug Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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