PORTLAND, Ore. – On Thursday, February 16, 2017, Danyelle Calcagno, 41, of Portland, was sentenced to 72 months in federal prison for conspiring to file tax returns that claimed more than $1.2 million in fraudulent refunds. The sentence was announced jointly by Billy J. Williams, United States Attorney for the District of Oregon, and Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.
According to court documents, Calcagno conspired to file at least 224 individual income tax returns using names and social security numbers of individuals she obtained directly or acquired with the assistance of Latisha L. Simmons of Phoenix, Arizona. To fraudulently claim the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Additional Child Tax Credit, Calcagno cited fictitious business income to meet eligibility requirements for the credits. Calcagno filed the fraudulent returns using Internet access from Portland-area hotels to disguise the true source of the filing.
Calcagno directed the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to deposit the fraudulent refunds into different bank accounts and prepaid debit cards in order to divide the proceeds of the fraud and make it more difficult for law enforcement to identify her as the filer of the returns. In total, Calcagno and her co-conspirator filed returns totaling at least $1,220,246.
In addition to the prison sentence imposed by U.S. District Court Judge Marco A. Hernández, Calcagno was ordered to serve 3 years of supervised release. Calcagno was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $742,754 to the IRS, reflecting the total amount received as a result of the fraudulent returns filed. Calcagno previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the government, aggravated identity theft and wire fraud. In October 2015, Simmons was sentenced to serve 39 months in prison for her role in the scheme.
The case was investigated by IRS – Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by Quinn Harrington, Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Oregon, and Leslie A. Goemaat, Trial Attorney for the Justice Department’s Tax Division.