June 13, 2002

COMPTON MAN GETS JAIL TERM FOR FORGING TREASURY CHECKS
AND DEFRAUDING THE IRS

 A Compton man was sentenced on June 10, 2002 for forging fraudulently obtained Treasury checks and filing false income tax returns with the IRS.  Curtis Eugene Pierce, 37, was sentenced to a one year jail term for filing numerous false Federal income tax returns with the IRS on behalf of third parties that fraudulently claimed refunds.  U.S. District Court Judge Gary A. Feess sentenced Pierce to the jail term and also ordered him to pay restitution of $229,042.
 Pierce was indicted in January along with his wife, Deborah Denise Pierce, 32, in the scheme.  Pierce pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy and false claim charges and admitted that he and his wife forged endorsements in various names on the fraudulently obtained Treasury checks. Deborah Pierce passed the checks through personal bank accounts that she and her husband maintained at a bank in Long Beach where she was employed.
 Pierce admitted that he and his wife forged names on 111 Treasury checks that totaled over $174,960. An investigation by IRS-Criminal Investigation determined that the fraudulent income tax returns were prepared with false W-2 forms that Pierce admittedly created himself.  The refund checks were mailed either to addresses that
 Pierce controlled or to third party taxpayers who agreed to provide the checks to him.
The case was investigated by the Los Angeles Field Office of Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation.

Release No. 02-96

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