Tax Preparer Sentenced To Two Years In Prison For Tax Evasion & Filing False Tax Returns

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – On Wednesday, March 25, 2015, U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr. sentenced Jessica Ordonez, 38, of Belmont, N.C. to 24 months in prison on tax evasion and filing false tax returns, announced Jill Westmoreland Rose, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.  Judge Conrad also ordered Ordonez to serve one year under court supervision following her release from prison and to pay $288,302.63 as restitution.

Acting U.S. Attorney Rose is joined in making today’s announcement by Thomas J. Holloman III, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).

According to court records and the sentencing hearing, Ordonez was the owner of Tax Pros (a/k/a “Ordonez Tax Services”), which provided tax preparation and other services and had offices in Gastonia and Morganton, N.C. Court documents show that between 2004 and 2012 Ordonez prepared at least 100 false tax returns for 23 taxpayers, using fraudulent Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs).  According to court records, Ordonez used false Additional Child Tax Credit and other false information to prepare the fraudulent returns, which entitled her clients to large fraudulent tax refunds.  The tax loss associated with the fraudulent returns was approximately $202,217.  In addition to filing the false returns, court records indicate that Ordonez failed to report her own income on her individual tax returns for tax years 2009 to 2011, with a corresponding tax loss of $86,085.  Ordonez pleaded guilty in April 2014 to one count of tax evasion and one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of a false tax return.

In handing down Ordonez’s sentence, Judge Conrad emphasized that Ordonez had engaged in very serious fraud over a long period of time and noted the seriousness of the offenses and the importance of deterrence in tax fraud cases.

Ordonez has been released on bond and will be ordered to report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons to begin serving her sentence upon designation of a federal facility.  All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.

The investigation was handled by IRS-Criminal Investigation.  The prosecution for the government is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Jenny Sugar of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte.