St. Joseph Mother, Daughter Plead Guilty in $1.5 Million Tax Fraud Scheme

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a St. Joseph, Mo., mother and daughter pleaded guilty in federal court today to their roles in a $1.5 million tax fraud scheme as well as individual tax fraud.

Dawn Langlais (formerly Ankrom-Brown), 59, and her daughter, Jennifer Sturgis, 38, both of St. Joseph, pleaded guilty in separate appearances before U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips to the charges contained in a July 20, 2016, federal indictment.

Langlais pleaded guilty to failing to pay over employee payroll taxes to the IRS. Sturgis pleaded guilty to making false statements on a tax return.

From 2001 through early 2010, Langlais assisted in the operation of Homeward Bound Health Services, Inc., a home health provider located in St. Joseph. In 2010, Homeward Bound’s name was changed to Silver Linings, Inc., and nominee owners were put in place who signed the checks but made no business decisions. Langlais continued to assist in the operation of Silver Linings, which closed in 2013.

Langlais employed her daughter, Sturgis, and other relatives at Homeward Bound and Silver Linings.

Homeward Bound and Silver Linings withheld and collected federal income taxes, Social Security taxes, and Medicare taxes from employees and then kept those withheld taxes instead of paying them over to the IRS. The total criminal tax loss attributed to Homeward Bound and Silver Linings for failure to pay employment taxes due and owing from 2001 to 2012 is $1,459,727.

Homeward Bound and Silver Linings also withheld from employee paychecks and kept child support payments, employee IRA contributions, and medical and dental insurance payments. The theft of these payments had negative collateral consequences for their employees.

By pleading guilty today, Langlais and Sturgis admitted they received income from Homeward Bound and Silver Linings, which they failed to report on their individual federal income tax forms, and as a result, underpaid their federal income taxes.

Langlais willfully failed to make an income tax return or pay personal income taxes from 2010 to 2012, for a total personal tax loss of $56,860. Sturgis was married and filed joint individual income tax returns from 2007 to 2012. Her unreported income from 2010 to 2012 was at least $150,193, resulting in a federal individual income tax loss of at least $26,523. Her unreported income from 2007 to 2009 was at least $420,418, resulting in a federal individual income tax loss of at least $102,437, and a state individual income tax loss of $19,387, for a total personal tax loss of $148,347, including relevant conduct.

Additionally, from 2009 to 2012, Sturgis claimed personal federal income tax refunds, knowing that Homeward Bound and Silver Linings had not paid any income taxes to the IRS.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen D. Mahoney. It was investigated by IRS – Criminal Investigation.