Man Pleads Guilty To Filing False Claims

MINNEAPOLIS— Last week in federal court, a man pleaded guilty to submitting false tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service. On July 1, 2014, Dusten Lee Barth pleaded guilty to one count of False Claims and one count of Aggravated Identity Theft. Barth, who was indicted on March 3, 2014, entered his guilty plea before United States District Court Judge Paul A. Magnuson.

According to the plea agreement, Barth admitted to preparing and submitting approximately 10 fraudulent tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), claiming over $43,000 in false tax refunds. The defendant also admitted to using the identities of several other individuals to submit a false tax return in their names.

For his crimes, Barth faces a potential maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for the False Claims count and a two year mandatory, consecutive prison sentence for the Aggravated Identity Theft count Judge Magnuson will determine his sentence at a future hearing, which is yet to be scheduled.

This case is the result of an investigation by the IRS Criminal Investigation Division. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Surya Saxena.

Per U.S. Department of Justice policy, the U.S. Attorney’s Office is not allowed to provide the age and city of residence for defendants charged in criminal tax cases.