FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Lauren Horwood
January 7, 2011	PHONE: (916) 554-2706
www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae	usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov
Docket #: 2:09-cr-289 GEB

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that Shannon Elaine Ford, 33, of Redding, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. to charges related to the filing of false tax returns.

This case is the product of extensive investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation and the Department of Treasury, Office of the Inspector General for Tax Administration. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Rodriguez is prosecuting the case.

According to the guilty plea, Ford admitted that she created and filed false claims with the IRS on behalf of her clients As part of the false claims, Ford submitted false information in order to generate bigger refunds. Then, unknown to her clients, Ford diverted the fraudulently inflated tax refunds from her clients into her personal credit union account and into her husband’s personal bank account. The scheme operated from February 2004 to March 2007, involved more than 20 victim taxpayers, and more than $159,000.

Ford is scheduled to be sentenced on April 1, 2011. She faces up to 30 years in prison for the bank fraud conviction and up to five years in prison for each of the false claim convictions. She also faces a fine of $1 million, restitution, and five years of supervised release. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory sentencing factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.                 

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