Woman Gets Nine Months in Federal Prison for False Tax Return Scheme
Las Vegas, Nev. – A woman who devised and executed a scheme to create and file false income tax returns for herself and others, has been sentenced to nine months in federal prison following her prior guilty plea to filing false, fictitious, or fraudulent income tax returns and aiding and abetting, announced Gregory A. Brower, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada.
Ramona Brock, 35, of Las Vegas, Nevada, was sentenced on Monday, June 2, 2008, by U.S. District Judge James C. Mahan. Brock and a co-defendant, Keith Carthon, were indicted in March 2007 and charged with assisting numerous individuals to file false income tax claims. The defendants provided the individuals with fictitious W-2 forms which falsely stated that they had worked for various employers and earned income, when in fact the individuals had not worked for such employers or earned the income reported. At Brock and Carthon's directive, the individuals submitted the false W-2s and tax returns to the IRS and received tax refunds to which they were not entitled. Brock and Carthon demanded portions of the refunds in exchange for providing the false W-2s and teaching the individuals about the tax fraud scheme.
"This office stands fully committed to the vigorous prosecution of any individual who initiates or participates in tax fraud, including schemes involving the filing of false income tax returns," said U.S. Attorney Brower.
Brock has multiple prior convictions for larceny and forgery. Most of those convictions involved the use of computers to manufacture counterfeit or fraudulent documents for personal gain. In 2007, Brock was convicted in the Eighth Judicial District Court in Clark County of a felony financial forgery offense and sentenced to 12 to 30 months in prison. Judge Mahan ordered that Brock's federal sentence be served consecutively to her state court sentence.
Keith Carthon pleaded guilty in November 2007 to the same charge and was sentenced in January to 27 months in prison.
The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Christina M. Brown.
