Tag: IRS-CI
WV Barber Board Staffer Skimmed Fees
⏱ 3 min read Gauley Bridge, WV – Crystal Renee Severson, 45, admitted in federal court she was quietly robbing the West Virginia Board of Barbers and Cosmetologists. For nearly two years, from August 2019 through January 2022, Severson, an administrative assistant, siphoned off over $1,855 in application fees, lining her own pockets. It wasn’t…
Tax Ghost Nabbed: $2.1M Fraud
⏱ 3 min read Tracey Hernandez, 39, of Burlington, North Carolina, is trading her tax prep software for a federal prison jumpsuit. The IRS-CI busted Hernandez for a brazen $2.1 million tax fraud, and a judge handed down a 25-month sentence today. She ran the scheme in 2021 and 2022, filing hundreds of bogus tax…
Badge & Bucks: Cop Family Scammed Covid Funds
⏱ 3 min read A Robeson County Sheriff’s deputy and three of his family members – his wife and two sons – ran a brazen scheme to steal over half a million dollars in Covid relief money, federal prosecutors revealed this week. Ricky McMillian, 50, wife Erica, 46, and sons Dwayne, 29, and Derian, 27,…
Vet Swindles Military for $1M+
⏱ 2 min read Donald Smith, a 75-year-old Pittsburgh vet-turned-contractor, is facing a long stretch behind bars after a federal jury slapped him with guilty verdicts on thirteen counts today. Smith’s company systematically ripped off the Defense Logistics Agency, the military’s supply chain, to the tune of over a million dollars between 2019 and 2023.…
Tax Collector Ripped Off Township
⏱ 2 min read Karen McGinnis, 46, of Mountain Top, Pennsylvania, is headed to federal prison after a brazen scheme to pilfer over $400,000 from the Fairview Township tax rolls. The former tax collector used her position to line her own pockets between March 2023 and January 2025, and today, U.S. District Judge Karoline Mehalchick…
Tax Collector Stole $400K
⏱ 2 min read Karen McGinnis, 46, of Mountain Top, Pennsylvania, is trading her office for a federal cell after admitting she siphoned over $400,000 from the taxpayers of Fairview Township. The former tax collector used her position to write checks to herself from collected property taxes between March 2023 and January 2025. The scheme…
Timeshare Salesman Faces 23 Months for Tax Dodge
⏱ 3 min read Michael Jett, 60, is headed to the federal slammer for 23 months. The Independence, Missouri, timeshare salesman spent six years stiffing the IRS, cooking the books to avoid paying what he owed between 2017 and 2022. Jett didn’t just forget to file; he actively lied, claiming bogus exemptions and convincing his…
Old Vet Scams Military, Faces Decades
⏱ 3 min read Donald Smith, 75, a Pittsburgh defense contractor, is staring down serious prison time after a federal jury found him guilty of fleecing the U.S. military. Smith bilked the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) out of over a million bucks, delivering either shoddy goods or nothing at all, then tried to cover it…
Tax Collector Ripped Off PA Town
⏱ 2 min read Karen McGinnis, 46, of Mountain Top, Pennsylvania, is going to federal prison for turning her role as Fairview Township’s tax collector into a personal piggy bank. Between March 2023 and January 2025, McGinnis siphoned off over $400,000 in property tax payments meant for the township, Luzerne County, and the Crestwood School…
Tax Thief Siphoned $400K
⏱ 2 min read Karen McGinnis, 46, of Mountain Top, Pennsylvania, is heading to federal prison after a two-year scheme to skim over $400,000 from the taxpayers of Fairview Township. U.S. District Judge Karoline Mehalchick slapped her with a 20-month sentence yesterday, a small price to pay for betraying the public trust. From March 2023…
