FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

May 2, 2003

Kesha Handy               
P. O. Box 61129 Houston, TX 77208
Phone: 713/567-9335 Fax: 713/718-3390
E-Mail: usatty.txs@usdoj.gov

TWO HOUSTON WOMEN SENTENCED FOR DEFRAUDING THE UNITED STATES
Contact: Albert A. Balboni, Assistant U.S. Attorney
Phone: 713/567-9726

(Houston) – United States Attorney Michael T. Shelby announced today that Eva L. Morales, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court before the Honorable Melinda Harmon. Morales was sentenced to 12 months and one day imprisonment for engaging in a conspiracy to defraud the United States by assisting in the filing of false federal income tax returns for individuals for the tax years 1997 and 1998. She was also sentenced to three years supervised release and ordered to pay restitution of approximately $18,000.00. Morales' co-defendant, Dora H. Robledo, was sentenced previously to 27 months imprisonment for engaging in the conspiracy to defraud the United States for filing nineteen false tax returns. Robledo was also sentenced to three years supervised release and ordered to pay restitution of approximately $18,000.00. During their plea hearing in open court, the United States represented it would prove the following facts beyond a reasonable doubt if the case were to proceed to trial. Robledo was the owner of D.J. Income Tax Service where the false tax returns were prepared. Morales was the owner of Eye Deal Optical, located at the time, in the Fiesta supermarket at 12201 East Freeway, Houston, Texas. Morales' primary role in the conspiracy was to refer individuals to Robledo for income tax preparation in return for a fee. Morales also recruited others to refer taxpayers through her to Robledo. Robledo used various methods to fraudulently increase a taxpayer's refund including adding fictitious deductions, reporting inflated income and tax withholding amounts, and creating false W-2s for jobs the taxpayer did not hold. The taxpayers did not see or sign the false returns before they were filed. Robledo, or someone at her direction, signed the taxpayer's name to the return. Morales was aware that Robledo was preparing false returns designed to fraudulently increase the amount of the refunds. Morales was aware the people she brought to Robledo should not be filing for a refund because they were undocumented aliens who were paid in cash and who had no tax withheld. Morales lied when questioned by people she referred as to why their refund was much larger than in past years. Morales told them several falsehoods, including: the government had extra money that year; you get extra money for filing early; and, you get more money if you had a baby in 1998. Many of the false returns were filed electronically by Robledo and involved the use of refund anticipation loans or RALs. RALs are commonly known as rapid refunds. Robledo filed the returns and a bank issued a refund check through Robledo to the taxpayer. This procedure allowed Robledo to control the refund and to take her fee off the top. The taxpayers thought Robledo's fee was $69.00 when, in fact, she was taking hundreds of dollars from the refunds without the taxpayers' knowledge. Morales also allowed Robledo to use her business address at the Fiesta as well as the address of her rent house on North Main as the taxpayer's address on some of the false tax returns so they could again control the refund check. Morales deposited some of the fraudulently obtained refund checks into her business bank account and then paid the taxpayer and Robledo their share. Morales accompanied some of her referrals to cash their refund check in order to collect her fee. In one such instance, Morales referred her baby sitter to Robledo. Robledo prepared a false return for the babysitter and added a fake W-2 allegedly issued by Pipe Distributors, Inc. to the babysitter, who was never employed at that company. Robledo used Morales' Fiesta store address on the return. The phony income and tax withholding reported on the false W-2 resulted in a fraudulent refund of $3,003.00. Morales took the babysitter to cash the refund check and collected a fee of $1,000.00, which she told the babysitter was for Robledo. After listening to what the government was prepared to prove at a trial, both Robledo and Morales admitted they were guilty of the crimes charged in the indictment.

The case was investigated by agents of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Albert A. Balboni.

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