Elmira Woman sentenced for filing false tax returns

ROCHESTER, N.Y.--U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Dawn White, 28, of Elmira, N.Y., who was convicted by a federal jury of conspiracy and filing false federal income tax returns, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Charles J. Siragusa to 33 months in prison and ordered to pay $67,926 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service. 

            Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard A. Resnick, who handled the trial of the case, stated that in 2005 and 2006, White and her sister Jennifer Ford, filed several false income tax returns with the IRS and New York State. Specifically, White and her sister filed tax returns which contained false wage and tax withholding information that resulted in tax refunds to which Ford knew she was not entitled.

            For example, for the 2005 tax year, White submitted an income tax return claiming to have earned $94,000 from General Revenue Corporation with $39,000 withheld in federal taxes. In actuality, the defendant earned only approximately $4,000 from General Revenue Corporation and had only $325 in taxes withheld from her earnings. As a result, White received a refund from the IRS in the amount of approximately $21,000. In total, 13 false tax returns were filed, resulting in a loss of approximately $100,000 to the IRS.

Jennifer Ford was convicted of conspiracy and filing false income tax returns in January 2012 and will be sentenced on March 26, 2013.

            The sentencing is the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, under the direction of Toni Weirauch, Special Agent-In-Charge, New York Field Office.