Norfolk Man Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison for Tax Fraud Scheme

NORFOLK, Va. – Ronald Chisholm, 53, of Norfolk, was sentenced today to 218 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release for his convictions on 19 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, and aggravated identity theft in connection with a scheme to defraud the IRS.

Chisholm was found guilty by a federal jury on July 28, 2015. According to court records and evidence presented at trial, Chisholm’s scheme was discovered in 2013 after a local check cashing business noticed one of its employees had cashed over $2 million in U.S. Treasury checks.  The employee of the check cashing business identified Ronald Chisholm as the person who paid her $200 per check to cash the treasury checks in violation of the company’s policies.  A subsequent IRS investigation determined that Chisholm, along with unidentified co-conspirators, stole the personal identifying information of numerous people and filed at least 698 fraudulent income tax returns.  As a result of these false returns, Chisholm and his co-conspirators received a total of $2.2 million in fraudulent income tax refunds.

Chisholm’s co-conspirators have both already pleaded guilty.  Tanya Evans, the employee of the check cashing business, was sentenced to 87 months and Mark J. Jones, Sr., will be sentenced on Nov. 16, 2015 and faces a sentence of 87-102 months.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Thomas J. Kelly, Special Agent in Charge, Washington, D.C. Field Office, IRS-Criminal Investigation, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph L. Kosky prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:14-cr-132.

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