Tennessee Woman Sentenced to Prison for Tax Fraud Scheme

NORFOLK, Va. – Marsha King, 38, of Lakeland, Tennessee, was sentenced today to 100 months in prison for theft of government money and aggravated identity theft.

On July 30, 2015, after a week-long jury trial, King was found guilty of two counts of theft of government property and 12 counts of identity theft.  According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, King resided with her sister in Memphis, Tennessee.  King’s sister was employed as a school teacher in Memphis and actively engaged in various extra-curricular programs.  At various times, King’s sister would print out rosters of her students and bring them home.  On these rosters were various means of identification of the students in King’s sister’s class.  Unbeknownst to King’s sister, the names and means of identification of these students were used by Marsha King to file false and fraudulent federal income tax returns and fraudulently receive income tax refunds. 

The income tax returns were filed electronically from Memphis, and according to IRS records, a number of the false and fraudulent income tax returns can be traced back to IP addresses that originated from Marsha King’s Sprint account and her University of Memphis student account.  Marsha King was a student at the University of Memphis and had a student account and access to the University of Memphis intranet system.  Based upon the instructions on the false and fraudulent income tax returns, the IRS made direct deposits into a number of different bank accounts.  At least one of these accounts was in the name of Marsha King.  Other accounts were in the name of Marsha King’s friends and family members, including her ex-husband who was in prison. 

During this time period, Marsha King had another sister who lived in Norfolk.  Some of the funds obtained from these false and fraudulent tax returns were deposited into accounts in the name of King’s sister. When Marsha King traveled to Norfolk to visit her sister, she ultimately withdrew in excess of $140,000 of the fraudulently obtained income tax refunds.  In total, King filed approximately 500 fraudulent returns for approximately $611,000 in loss to the government. 

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Thomas Jankowski, Special Agent in Charge, Washington D.C. Field Office, IRS-Criminal Investigation, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephen Haynie and Joseph 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-65.