Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – LAQUINTA Q. FISHER, a former tax return preparer from Lawton, Oklahoma, was sentenced to serve 18 months in federal prison for an earned income credit tax fraud scheme involving false reporting of income and dependents, announced Mark A. Yancey, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.

According to an indictment on August 17, 2016, Fisher was a self-taught tax return preparer who prepared federal tax returns for individuals in the Lawton, Oklahoma, area for tax years 2010 through 2014. She recruited clients by word of mouth and by distribution of flyers. Fisher advised her clients that all they needed was a dependent child in order to receive a refund from the government. She then falsified returns for clients by adding fictitious income to increase the earned income credit (EIC) and by adding false dependents to maximize the EIC, which resulted in false refund claims. Fisher prepared and submitted the returns for her clients electronically to the IRS.

Fisher pled guilty on October 5, 2016. Today, she was sentenced by United States District Judge David Russell to serve 18 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay $133,955 in restitution to the IRS. Reference is made to court filings for further information.

This case is the result of an investigation by IRS-Criminal Investigations and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rozia McKinney-Foster.