Former Office Manager of Hobbs Business Pleads Guilty to Federal Tax Charges

ALBUQUERQUE – Connie C. Sims, 43, of Eunice, N.M., pled guilty late yesterday afternoon to federal tax evasion charges in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., for violating the federal tax laws, announced U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez and Special Agent in Charge Dawn Mertz of the Phoenix Field Office of IRS Criminal Investigation.

Sims was charged with four counts of federal tax evasion in an indictment filed in Sept. 2014.  The indictment charged Sims with evading her federal tax obligations during tax years 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 by failing to report her true income.  At the time the offenses were committed, Sims was employed as the office manager of a surveillance equipment company located in Hobbs, N.M.

During yesterday’s proceedings, Sims pled guilty to all four counts of the indictment and admitted that she knowingly evaded approximately $120,366.00 in federal taxes by failing to report an aggregate of $482,890.00 in income during tax years 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.  In her plea agreement, Sims admitted that from 2010 through 2013, she wrote checks to herself on the company’s bank accounts and did not report the money as compensation when she filed her federal tax returns.  Sims acknowledged deriving an aggregate amount of $482,890.00 by writing checks to herself, which resulted in a loss of $120,366.00 to the IRS when she failed to report the income in her federal tax returns.

At sentencing, Sims faces a statutory maximum penalty of five years in federal prison on each of the four tax evasion counts.  Under the terms of the plea agreement, Sims will be required to pay $120,336.00 in restitution to the IRS.  Sims remains on conditions of release and under pretrial supervision pending her sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.

This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of IRS Criminal Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Gould of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.