Four Portland Residents Plead Guilty to $1 Million Tax Fraud Scheme

WASHINGTON - Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Larry J. Wszalek for the Department of Justice's Tax Division, U.S. Attorney S. Amanda Marshall for the District of Oregon and Chief Richard Weber for the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) announced that Jheraun Dunlap, Ernest Bagsby, Jermaine Moore and Brandi McCall pleaded guilty today to a $1 million federal tax refund fraud scheme.

Dunlap admitted to filing 208 false federal income tax returns with false wages, false withholding and false refundable credits that claimed a total of more than $1 million in fraudulent refunds.  Dunlap filed false tax returns using the names and social security numbers of other individuals obtained directly and through Bagsby, Moore and McCall.  Dunlap filed a number of false tax returns using identities stolen by co-defendant Carolyn Gallagher, who previously pleaded guilty to identity theft.  Dunlap also used addresses obtained by Bagsby, Moore and McCall to receive stored-value debit cards loaded with fraudulent income tax refunds.

On Jan. 12, all four defendants pleaded guilty before Senior District Judge Robert E. Jones in the District of Oregon.  Dunlap pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the government, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.  Bagsby and Moore pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the government, theft of government funds and aggravated identity theft.  McCall pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the government.  All four defendants have agreed to pay full restitution to the U.S. Treasury in the amount of $427,896.

This case was investigated by the IRS-CI's Stolen Identity Refund Fraud Task Force.  Trial Attorneys Leslie A. Goemaat and Lori A. Hendrickson of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case.

Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division's website http://www.justice.gov/tax.