New York Tax Return Preparer Sentenced to Prison

A Bay Shore, New York tax return preparer was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, for aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return for others, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo, head of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

According to court documents, Thelma Rodriguez-Garden, 55, owned and operated Garden Insurance Agency Corporation, a tax return preparation business in Suffolk county.  For tax years 2008 through 2011, Rodriguez-Garden prepared false individual income tax returns that included, among other falsities, grossly inflated or wholly fictitious itemized deductions for unreimbursed employee expenses, causing a loss to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of at least $107,459.  Rodriguez-Garden pleaded guilty to the charges on March 14.

In addition to the prison term imposed by U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Bianco, Rodriguez-Garden was also ordered to serve one year of supervised release and to pay $107,459 in restitution to the IRS. 

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Trial Attorneys Jeffrey Bender and Brittney Campbell of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case.

Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’s website.