Georgia Resident Sentenced to 20 Months for Role in Conspiracy to Obstruct IRS

HONOLULU – United States Attorney Ken Sorenson announced that Lazerrick Lawrence, 52, of Georgia, was sentenced on February 13, 2026 to 20 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release for conspiring with others to obstruct the IRS as part of a fraudulent tax refund scheme.  Lawrence pled guilty in August 2025 shortly before the trial of his codefendants.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Lawrence conspired with others to prevent the IRS from recouping money unlawfully obtained by his co-conspirators through a tax refund scheme.  From approximately January 2015 through September 2018, Lawrence’s co-conspirators prepared and filed false federal tax returns with the IRS.  Each of these returns included fraudulent tax forms purportedly issued by mortgage lenders, which established large tax refunds that the scheme participants were not entitled to receive.  As a result of these false returns, the U.S. Treasury issued refund checks to the scheme participants totaling more than $1 million.

Lawrence helped to support the conspiracy.  Among other acts, he filed retaliatory liens against the IRS employee assigned to recover the fraudulently obtained funds, created corporate entities designed to conceal the true ownership of real properties subject to federal tax liens, and helped his co-conspirators file sham bankruptcy proceedings.

Four of Lawrence’s codefendants were convicted at trial in August 2025 and sentenced in January 2026 for their roles in the tax refund fraud scheme: Rosemarie Lastimado-Dradi was sentenced to 108 months’ imprisonment; Marciaminajuanequita Dumlao was sentenced to 33 months’ imprisonment; Elvah Miranda was sentenced to 48 months’ imprisonment; and Daniel Miranda was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment.  A fifth codefendant, Danitta Ross Morton, is currently awaiting trial scheduled for September 2026.

IRS Criminal Investigation, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, and FBI investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregg Paris Yates and Trial Attorney Sarah A. Kiewlicz of the Criminal Division Tax Section prosecuted the case.