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Texas Women Sentenced for Tax Fraud Scheme
HOUSTON – In a shocking case of tax fraud, two women have been handed prison sentences for conspiring to submit fraudulent tax refund claims in the names of 53 stolen identities during the 2013 tax season.
Yevette Lauren Walton and Lakisha Lashell Rogers were prosecuted as part of IRS-CI’s Stolen Identity Refund Fraud (SIRF) initiative that has resulted in arrests throughout the United States. They entered pleas of guilty May 10, 2013.
“Investigating identity theft and refund fraud is a priority for IRS-CI,” said Lucy Cruz, special agent in charge of Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation. “Stealing identities and filing false tax returns is a serious crime that hurts innocent taxpayers. We, along with our law enforcement partners and the United States Attorney’s Office, continue to do our part in protecting the sanctity and integrity of the tax system and those individuals whose identities were stolen, as well as recovering any monetary loss against the U.S. Treasury.”
U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal handed Walton and Rogers each a sentence of 24 months in federal prison. Both were further ordered to pay $60,000 in restitution to the IRS and to serve a term of three years of supervised release following completion of their prison terms.
The women acknowledged that between Feb. 15, 2013, and Feb. 27, 2013, they met with tax return preparer, Marlin Beckett, interviewed him and concluded he could prepare and electronically file false tax refund claims for them. Walton and Rogers provided this person with approximately 37 names, Social Security numbers and other means of identification.
Walton and Rogers then engaged in a number of telephone conversations with the tax return preparer to check on the status of the refund claims. Upon their arrests on March 8, 2013, Walton and Rogers had another 16 names and other means of identification on them intended to be used to file a second set of false and fraudulent refund claims approximately totaling an additional $200,000.
The investigation leading to these charges was conducted by IRS-CI and the United States Postal Inspection Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jimmy Sledge Jr. is prosecuting the case. Meanwhile, co-defendant Antoinne Quinay Jackson was previously sentenced by Judge Rosenthal to six months in federal custody, and is presently serving a three-year-term of supervised release. Tax return preparer Marlin Beckett, was sentenced to 36 months in prison and ordered to make full restitution for preparing false tax returns that generated $196,923 in excessive client refunds.
Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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