Woman Guilty Of Tax Fraud

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Rhonda Hartmann has pleaded guilty to presenting a false tax refund claim to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson announced today along with Lucy Cruz, special agent in charge of IRS-Criminal Investigation (CI).

On Sept. 26, 2012, a federal grand jury in Corpus Christi indicted Hartmann with three counts of making or presenting fraudulent tax refund claims to the United States for tax years 2006, 2007 and 2008. The fraudulent claims for these three years totaled $560,124.

Today, at a hearing before Senior U.S. District Judge John D. Rainey, Hartmann admitted she filed tax returns which included fraudulent form 1099-OIDs and requested a refund of monies not actually withheld.

Judge Rainey has set sentencing for Aug. 19, 2013, at 5:30 p.m. At that time, Hartmann faces a sentence of up to five years in federal prison and a possible $250,000 fine.

Hartmann was permitted to remain on bond pending her sentencing hearing.

The case was investigated by IRS-CI and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert D. Thorpe Jr.