Teresa McCown, Oil and Gas Fraud, New Mexico 2023

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico – A Farmington woman has pleaded guilty in federal court to charges related to submitting false and inaccurate oil and gas extraction reports, failing to pay due taxes and royalties to the Jicarilla Apache Nation, Navajo Nation, and federal government.

Teresa McCown, owner of M&M Production & Operation, Inc. (M&M) and Shoreline Oil & Gas Company (Shoreline), admitted that between 2017 and 2023, she repeatedly submitted false and inaccurate oil and gas extraction and production reports through online reporting systems, failed to submit mineral reports in some cases, and did not pay due taxes and royalties for oil and gas produced from Federal and Indian leases.

As a lease operator, McCown was responsible for accounting, reporting mineral production, and paying royalties to mineral owners for extracted gas and minerals. To that end, McCown was required to submit monthly Oil and Gas Operations Reports (OGOR) and royalty payments to the Department of the Interior’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) based on the amount and value of oil and gas produced from the leases.

On December 6, 2019, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) received a complaint letter from the Jicarilla Apache Nation alleging M&M and Shoreline’s ongoing failures to report oil and gas extraction volumes and failure to report revenue. ONRR began its investigation into McCown and her companies’ failure to pay royalties and determined that required reporting for royalties was missing for long periods of time.

In her plea agreement, McCown admitted to filing over 400 incorrect reports on Indian and Federal leases during the time period, that there are approximately 1,000 missing or unfiled OGOR reports for at least 32 leases or agreements, that she falsely reported gas extraction amounts, and failed to pay due royalties and interest.

The exact criminal charges against Teresa McCown are not specified in the provided text, but we can infer that she was charged with submitting false and inaccurate oil and gas extraction reports, failing to pay due taxes and royalties, and wire fraud.

The outcome of the case is that Teresa McCown has pleaded guilty. There is no information on the exact sentence or fine she will receive, but the fact that she admitted to the charges in a plea agreement suggests that she will face some form of punishment.

According to the text, the crimes took place between 2017 and 2023. The exact date of the crimes is not specified, but we can infer that they occurred over a period of several years.

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