Fairfield Man Sentenced to Prison for Tax Refund Fraud Scheme

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Brandon Anderson-Lacy, 30, of Fairfield, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez to three years and five months in prison for a tax refund fraud conspiracy, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

“Today’s sentencing shows the seriousness of identity theft with the filing of false tax returns to the IRS,” said Cindy S. Chen, Acting Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation. “IRS-CI continues to investigate these types of tax crimes and purse the criminals who steal other people’s identity and file false tax returns to enrich themselves and undermine the U.S. tax system. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners in combating these tax crimes.”

According to court documents, from February 2011 through March 2012, Anderson-Lacy and others participated in a conspiracy to submit false tax returns to the IRS by obtaining personal identifying information of others, and then submitting returns seeking refunds to which the people listed on the returns were not entitled. The false tax returns included fake Forms W-2 listing false employers, false income amounts, and false federal income tax withholdings, all of which was used to help generate a claimed refund. Many of the tax returns also included false information related to dependents and education expenses that were used to further increase the refunds requested. Anderson-Lacy and his co-conspirators requested that the refunds issue in a variety of ways, including by prepaid debit cards, direct deposit into bank accounts, and by treasury check. More than $319,000 in refunds were claimed in connection with the conspiracy.

This case was the product of an investigation by IRS Criminal Investigation with assistance from the Vacaville Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher S. Hales and Miriam R. Hinman are prosecuting the case.