ROCKFORD — A Freeport resident was sentenced today in federal court on a federal tax fraud charge.
The defendant, DOMINIQUE CASTLE, 29, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Frederick J. Kapala to 33 months in federal prison, and ordered to serve 3 years of supervised release following her term of imprisonment. Castle was previously sentenced for fraud related charges in Stephenson County and the federal sentence of imprisonment will be served consecutively to her state prison sentence. Judge Kapala also ordered Castle to pay $94,044 in restitution to the IRS and to four states.
On Nov. 3, 2015, Castle pleaded guilty to making a false claim to the IRS by filing a fraudulent income tax return. She also admitted to filing a total of 54 fraudulent income tax returns with the IRS and an additional 17 fraudulent income tax returns with four different states. Castle admitted in her plea agreement that in filing these returns, she obtained and used names of individuals, their Social Security account numbers, and their dates of birth in order to prepare and file the tax returns. Castle admitted that in the tax returns, she would claim fictitious amounts of income and of income taxes purportedly withheld.
The sentencing was announced by Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and James D. Robnett, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Criminal Investigations Division of the IRS. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney John G. McKenzie.