LAS VEGAS, Nev.—A Las Vegas woman was sentenced Wednesday to eight months in prison, eight months of home confinement, and three years of supervised release for filing 83 false tax returns totaling approximately $450,000, announced U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden of the District of Nevada and Special Agent in Charge Tara Sullivan of the Internal Revenue Service.
“The defendant defrauded the U.S. Government and taxpayers each time she filed a false income tax return,” said U.S. Attorney Bogden. “This sentencing shows that such greed based criminal behavior does come with a cost. We will continue to pursue individuals who commit tax fraud in Nevada.”
"The sentencing of Roxanne Pitts reflect the continued efforts of IRS Criminal Investigation to prosecute those stealing from the government," said SAC Sullivan.
Roxanne Pitts, 51, was charged by a criminal information and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the government with respect to claims on Oct. 16, 2016.
According to the plea agreement, Pitts admitted that, from June 2011 to about Feb. 2013, she conspired with others to file 83 false U.S. Individual Income tax returns with the IRS. She obtained the identities of deceased individuals through genealogy websites and placed fictitious amounts of wages, withholding, and various deductions on the false tax returns. Pitts electronically filed the false tax returns and directed the IRS to deposit the fraudulent income tax refunds onto pre-paid debit cards that she had obtained in the names of the deceased individuals. In some instances, she directed the IRS to mail U.S. Treasury checks to various Las Vegas addresses. She paid others to receive the checks and to cash the U.S. Treasury checks that she and others fraudulently obtained from the U.S. Treasury.
The case was investigated by the IRS and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Dickinson.
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