Woman in Prison for BP Oil Spill Fraud Pleads Guilty to Food Stamp Fraud and Tax Evasion

BIRMINGHAM -- A McCalla woman, already serving time for attempting to defraud the Gulf Coast oil spill claims fund, pleaded guilty today in federal court to charges of food stamp fraud and evading income taxes. U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Special Agent in Charge Veronica Hyman-Pillot, and U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General, Investigations, Special Agent in Charge Karen Citizen-Wilcox announced the plea.

SHERICA LACEY LEE, 33, entered her guilty pleas to one count each of tax evasion and wire fraud before U.S. District Court Judge L. Scott Coogler. Her sentencing date has not been set.

The U.S. Attorney's Office filed the charges against Lee in June and Lee entered a plea agreement with the government at that time. As part of her plea, Lee agrees to forfeit $23,757 to the government as proceeds of illegal activity. She also agrees to pay restitution of $134,448 to the IRS for taxes not paid in 2008 through 2010, plus $23,757 to the Department of Agriculture for food stamp benefits she was not eligible to receive between July 2009 and June 2013.

According to the charges and Lee's plea, she evaded income taxes for 2008 by preparing and submitting a personal tax return that falsely reported she had no taxable income, when she had $229,147 in taxable income that year. Lee ran a tax preparation business, Lacey's Income Tax Service, with several locations in the Birmingham area. Between 2008 and 2010, Lee's company filed more than 2,000 tax returns and generated about $2.5million in receipts.

Lee committed wire fraud as part of a scheme to obtain federal benefits from the USDA Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. USDA administered SNAP, formerly known as the Federal Food Stamp Program, in conjunction with the Alabama Department of Human Resources.

Although Lee had income in excess of $200,000 in 2009, she applied for SNAP benefits by falsely stating on her application to DHR that she had no household income, cash on hand, or money in the bank, according to her plea. Lee submitted additional false application forms in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Her applications caused the $23,757 in SNAP benefits to be wired to an account established in her name and loaded monthly onto an Electronic Benefit Transfer card, which could be used as a debit card to purchase food.

Lee is serving a one-year and a day prison term for attempting to defraud the Gulf Coast Claims Facility.

IRS, Criminal Investigation, and USDA-OIG investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Pat Meadows is prosecuting