Two St. Louis Residents Sentenced For Their Roles In Illinois Fraudulent Tax Scheme

Phyllis Bradford, 20, and Andre Craig, 33, both of St. Louis, MO, were sentenced today in United States District Court for their respective roles in a fraudulent tax scheme, Stephen R. Wigginton, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced.

Bradford was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay restitution totaling $45,740. Craig was ordered to serve fifteen months in prison, followed by one year of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution totaling $5,621. These individuals were part of an eight defendant Indictment that charged conspiracy and Making and Subscribing a False 2010 Federal Income Tax Returns. The convictions stem from conduct of others convicted for falsely preparing and providing Forms W-2 to friends and relatives for the purpose of enabling them to file false federal income tax returns and receive false federal tax refunds. The W-2's were falsified in representing that certain individuals were employees of Masters Touch Cleaning Services, Inc., a Missouri corporation as well as the W-2's also falsely represented wages paid, falsely represented federal income taxes withheld, falsely represented Social Security taxes withheld, and falsely represented Medicare taxes withheld.

The prosecution is the result of an investigation conducted by the Internal Revenue Service/Criminal Investigations and was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Norman R. Smith and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Theresa Dawson.

To report criminal tax fraud, call the I.R.S. Criminal Investigations at (618) 622-2160, or send the information to the Internal Revenue Service, Fresno, CA 93888.