Tax Preparers Plead Guilty to Federal Offenses in Separate Cases

DALLAS — Two tax preparers who operated tax preparation businesses in Irving, Texas, and Duncanville, Texas, recently pleaded guilty to federal offenses, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.

In one case, Hector Gerardo Nunez pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return.  According to the factual resume filed in his case, from at least 2007 through 2010, Nunez did business under the name of Speedy Tax Service, located on W. Airport Freeway in Irving.  During this period, Nunez knowingly and willfully prepared, and caused to be filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), income tax returns that were materially false.  Nunez would include false or inflated deductions and credits that were intended to produce a fraudulently inflated refund to be paid by the IRS.  He would then collect a fee that was deducted from the refund generated by each return he prepared.  Nunez faces a maximum statutory penalty of three years in federal prison as well as a fine and restitution.  Sentencing is set for March 10, 2016, before U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle.

In the other case, Sherene Warren pleaded guilty to the same offense as well as to one count of theft of government money.  According to the factual resume filed in her case, Warren was the owner and manager of the tax preparation business Fast Tax Services that was located on N. Cedar Ridge Drive in Duncanville and then later on W. Wheatland Road in Duncanville.  Warren falsified, according to the factual resume, line items on clients’ tax returns to obtain larger refunds.  She also admitted receiving approximately $121,701 in 2010, $218,517 in 2011 and $360,491 in 2012 in fees/bonuses for preparing the tax returns.  Warren further admitted that she did not disclose any Fast Tax Services’ income on her 2010 tax returns, and that she did not file a tax return in 2011 or 2012. 

Warren also submitted false and fraudulent information about her income and employment to the Dallas Housing Authority in connection with receipt of Section 8 housing benefits, admitting that she stole approximately $28,786 in housing assistance to which she was not entitled.  Each year, the factual resume goes on to state, Warren submitted false and fraudulent documents to the Dallas Housing Authority showing she had no income, when, as she well knew, she received substantial income from the operation of Fast Tax Service.

Warren faces a maximum statutory penalty of three years in federal prison on the tax conviction and five years on the theft of government money conviction, as well as fines and restitution.  Warren was also charged with stealing disability benefits and, according to the plea agreement filed, while she did not plead to that offense, she has agreed to pay restitution of an amount proven at sentencing to the IRS, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Social Security Administration (SSA).  Sentencing is set for March 17, 2016, before U.S. District Judge Reed C. O’Connor.

IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating both cases.  HUD Office of Inspector General and the SSA Office of Inspector General are also investigating the Warren case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Stokes is prosecuting the Nunez case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Bunch is prosecuting the Warren case.          

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