FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Lauren Horwood
November 28, 2011	PHONE: (916) 554-2706
www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae	usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov
Docket #: 1:11-cr-00045-AWI

FRESNO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that Bertha Renell Vaughn, aka Bertha Renell Milton, 41, of Kern County, pleaded guilty today to four counts of aiding and assisting in the presentation of a false income tax return to the Internal Revenue Service.

According to the plea agreement, Vaughn owned and operated Nationwide Tax Solution, also referred to as Vaughn’s Tax Service, a tax preparation business in Bakersfield. When Vaughn prepared clients’ tax returns, she added fabricated items such as deductions, losses, income, wages, and withholdings that were not claimed by the taxpayers. She did this in order to charge higher fees for the more complicated tax return and also to have the IRS generate a refund to the taxpayer. The indictment alleges that more than 90 percent of the taxpayers using Vaughn’s tax preparation services received a tax refund from the IRS.
This case is the product of an extensive investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Jeremy R. Jehangiri is prosecuting the case.

Vaughn is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge Anthony W. Ishii on February 6, 2012. Vaughn faces a maximum penalty for each count of three years in prison, a $250,000 fine, a period of supervised release, and restitution. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

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