George E. B. Holding

CONTACT: 919/856-4530

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Monday, February 26, 2007

GREENVILLE - United States Attorney George E. B. Holding announced that on February 21, 2007, Chief United States District Court Judge Louise W. Flanagan sentenced defendant SHIRLEY BOONE to 18 months’ imprisonment for her role in a federal tax fraud case, United States v. Shirley Boone, No. 4:06-CR-48-1FL2. BOONE, 27, of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, was indicted last summer on 23 counts of making and presenting false claims upon the United States between February and April, 2004 in connection to BOONE’s preparation of 23 false tax returns, including one of her own, for the 2003 tax year. BOONE pled guilty to the charges on November 20, 2006.

In 1999, BOONE attended formal training in tax return preparation with H & R Block and worked seasonally with the company in preparing tax returns from December 1998 through May 1999, December 1999 through May 2001, and January 2004 through mid-April 2004. BOONE prepared the fraudulent federal tax returns in order to generate large refunds for herself and for some of her clients. BOONE also prepared nine tax returns without the knowledge of the taxpayers for her own personal gain. Of these, BOONE deposited refunds generated by seven of the returns into two separate bank accounts under her control; one refund was stopped before disbursement; and the last refund was used by BOONE as a down payment on a mobile home that she purchased in 2004. BOONE deposited seven (7) Refund Anticipation Loans totaling $21,276.30, into bank accounts in her name and in her mother’s name. The false returns resulted in a loss to the Internal Revenue Service of $36,648.10, and a loss to H & R Block of $3,355.05.

In order to accomplish her scheme, BOONE falsified Forms W-2 wages, Schedule A forms, filing status, withholdings, and dependents on tax returns that she prepared and filed.

The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations Division. Assistant United States Attorney Yvonne V. Watford-McKinney prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

News releases are available on the U. S. Attorney’s web page at www.usdoj.gov/usao/nce within 48 hours of release.