Washington, D.C. - United States Attorney Roscoe C. Howard, Jr. announced that two former employees of the District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue ("DC-OTR"), Sheila R. Palmer, 36, of the 1600 block of Fairlawn Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C., and Margaret Thomas, 34, of Forestville, MD, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court before the Honorable John D. Bates to a one-count Information charging mail fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud the District of Columbia of $85,355. Both defendants face maximum prison sentences of up to five years under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, fines of up to $250,000, a period of supervised release of not more than three years, and a restitution order, when sentenced in June of this year.

According to the government's evidence, from March through October, 2001, Ms. Palmer and Ms. Thomas jointly conducted a scheme to defraud DC-OTR. During the course of the scheme, Ms. Palmer and Ms. Thomas used their positions with, and access to, the computer systems at DC-OTR to create and insert into the D.C. tax return processing system forty-four (44) fraudulent tax returns seeking refunds totaling $85,355. Before the scheme was uncovered, the defendants received through the U.S. mail thirty-six checks totaling $66,583.77.

In announcing the guilty pleas, United States Attorney Howard commended Charles B. Fultz, and John Keenan, criminal investigators with the D.C. Office of the Chief Financial Officer and DC-OTR, respectively, for their excellent work in investigating this case. The United States Attorney also commended Assistant United States Attorney Marc Litt, who prosecuted the case.