Alabama Man Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison for Role in Tax Fraud Conspiracy

WASHINGTON – Eric Bernard Caldwell, a resident of Montgomery County, Ala., was sentenced today to 30 months in prison, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. Judge William Albritton of the Middle District of Alabama also ordered Caldwell to pay $386,100.41 in restitution to the IRS.

According to court documents, Caldwell was part of a conspiracy to file false federal tax returns using stolen identities. Caldwell would provide identity information to co-conspirator Ora Mae Adamson, who would file the returns, in exchange for a cut of the illicit refunds generated by the false tax returns.

During the period in which Caldwell was a member of the conspiracy, the group defrauded the United States of approximately $380,000. Two other members of the conspiracy have already been sentenced. Adamson was sentenced to 46 months in prison on March 10, 2011, while another co-conspirator, Jeffrey Leon Ceaser, was sentenced to 36 months in prison on March 2, 2011. In all, the conspiracy defrauded the United States of more than $600,000.

John A. DiCicco, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s Tax Division, and George L. Beck Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama, commended the IRS special agents who investigated this case and Tax Division Trial Attorneys Jason Poole and Michael Boteler who prosecuted the case.

More information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts can be found at www.justice.gov/tax .