Final Defendant in Tax Fraud Scheme Sentenced to Prison

PANAMA CITY, FLORIDA — United States Attorney Pamela C. Marsh announced today that Angel Done, 54, of New York, New York, was sentenced by United States District Judge Richard Smoak to 78 months in prison and was ordered to pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service in conjunction with other defendants in the amount of $245,747.32. 

Done is the fifth and final defendant sentenced to federal prison as a result of charges brought against him and four other co-defendants by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, alleging various federal tax violations.  On December 19, 2013, Judge Smoak imposed the following sentences on the other defendants:

• Wilson Calle, 55, of New York, New York, was sentenced to 78 months in prison and was ordered to pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service in conjunction with other defendants in the amount of $245,747.32;
• Blaine Johnston, 62, of Marianna, Florida, was sentenced to 78 months in prison and was ordered to pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service in conjunction with other defendants in the amount of $245,747.32;
• Wilfredo Rodriguez, 53, of Miami, Florida, was sentenced to 27 months in prison and was ordered to pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service in the amount of $160,490.93; and
• Diana Gonzalez, 63, of Miami, Florida, was sentenced to 63 months in prison and was ordered to pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service in conjunction with other defendants in the amount of $245,747.32.

U.S. Attorney Marsh praised the investigators and prosecutors for bringing this case to a successful conclusion and said, “As the number of greedy offenders willing to steal identities and tax dollars has grown, so has our ability to track, investigate, arrest, and prosecute these cases, effectively and cooperatively.  We are pursuing those engaged in these schemes, with intensity, and we are ready for tax season.” 

During the federal trial in September, prosecutors presented evidence that between 2008 and 2009, the defendants prepared and filed fraudulent tax returns seeking more than $19 million in refunds.  The defendants falsely reported that creditors of the defendants and their clients had withheld large amounts of federal income taxes and asserted that the creditors had paid those amounts over to the IRS.  As a result of the fraudulently overstated income tax withholding, the tax returns filed on behalf of the defendants or their clients claimed large refunds, to which they were not entitled.

Following the trial, Done, Calle, and Johnston were found guilty by a federal jury of conspiring to defraud the United States by filing, or assisting others in filing, false federal income tax returns and of multiple counts of filing false federal income tax returns.  Rodriguez was found guilty by the jury of filing a false federal income tax return seeking a false and fraudulent refund.  Gonzalez had previously entered a guilty plea to the charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States by filing, or assisting others in filing, false federal income tax returns seeking false and fraudulent refunds. 

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys J. Ryan Love and Randall J. Hensel.