Norman And Jami Ducre Plead Guilty To Filing False Tax Returns

NORMAN DUCRE, 41 and JAMI DUCRE, 44, residents of Slidell, Louisiana, each pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday before the Honorable Susie Morgan to two counts of willfully making and subscribing a false tax return, announced U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente.

According to the factual basis, during the charged years, the DUCREs owned and operated J & J Auto Brokers, LLC, a used car dealership located in Slidell, Louisiana. NORMAN DUCRE was primarily responsible for sales and inventory acquisition and management, while JAMI DUCRE was primarily responsible for the business' bookkeeping. As part of her plea, JAMI DUCRE admitted to providing false and fraudulent monthly income and expense statements to the firm's tax preparer, knowing full well that the reports did not contain all of the business's cash sales. Likewise, NORMAN DUCRE admitted as part of his guilty plea that, on a routine basis, he would fail to report cash sales made by J & J Auto Brokers, and would further pocket the cash made from the illicit sales, instead of reporting said cash on the businesses books and records.

The fraudulent income reports that both NORMAN and JAMI DUCRE provided or caused to be provided to their tax preparer were then used to prepare income tax returns for the business and for the DUCREs individually. At their plea hearing yesterday, the DUCREs admitted to signing and filing with the IRS a false Form 1040 for tax year 2005 that substantially understated their income from J & J Auto Brokers and a false Form 1040 for tax year 2006 that substantially overstated their loss from the business. The total tax loss from the charged conduct is $69,451.

Sentencing for both defendants is set for June 19, 2013. As to each count, the DUCREs face a maximum term of three years imprisonment, a fine of $100,000, a $100 special assessment, and a one year supervised release following any term of imprisonment.

The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney Carter Guice and Trial Attorney Hayden Brockett of the U. S. Department of Justice, Tax Division.

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