A former agent for the Internal Revenue Service allegedly abused his position of power when he filed fraudulent tax returns, the government said. Now, the Mansfield, Texas, man will spend nearly nine years in prison for it.
A U.S. District Court judge in Dallas gave the man a 105-month prison sentence and told him to repay the government nearly $31,000 for his scheme, which is the amount the IRS couldn’t recover out of the more than $1.8 million the agency mistakenly paid to the man.
The government had accused the man, now 65, is accused of filing tax returns claiming that he was owed approximately $8 million. He agreed to plead guilty to single counts of theft of government property and aggravated identity theft.
The man was an IRS employee for more than a decade beginning in 1985. His attorney said his IRS-related work dealt with property instead of revenue or tax returns. But prosecutors contend that as an IRS official, the man knew the ins and outs of the tax system.
In 2005 and 2006 he filed 29 false tax forms, the man admitted. He planned to use the money in real estate. He used the names and Social Security numbers of actual people on the returns and said he intended to return the money once his real estate business started to make money, according to court documents.
In all, the IRS issued seven refund checks for $1.865 million before a bank notified the IRS of a possible scheme. The individual checks were written in amounts from more than $215,000 to nearly $475,000, documents showed.
Everyday people are intimidated enough by the IRS that they don’t need to deal with the headaches created by an employee trying to scam the system. People with questions about their tax status should consult with an experienced tax attorney.
Source: Star-Telegram, “Former IRS worker sentenced to 105 months,” Dianna Hunt, Feb. 9, 2010
