| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | For Information, Contact Public Affairs |
| Monday, July 19, 2004 | Channing Phillips (202) 514-6933 |
| Third
defendant pleads guilty in tax fraud conspiracy |
|
|
Washington, D.C. - United States Attorney Kenneth
L. Wainstein, Rick A. Raven, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue
Service (IRS), Baltimore Field Office, and Dan Black, Deputy Chief
Financial Officer, District of Columbia, Office of Tax and Revenue
(OTR), announced that Robert North, 44, of Washington, D.C., pleaded
guilty today before the Honorable Deborah A. Robinson, United States
Magistrate Judge, to one count of conspiracy to defraud the government
with respect to claims, in violation of Title 18, U.S.C. § 286
and to one count of First Degree Theft, in violation of 22 D.C. Code
§ 3211, in connection with his role in a massive tax fraud conspiracy.
North faces a statutory penalty of up to 10 years of imprisonment
per count, a $250,000.00 fine, an order of restitution, and 3 years
of supervised release. Pursuant to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines,
North faces a period of incarceration of 6 to 12 months. Sentencing
will be scheduled for early December 2004, before the Honorable Colleen
Kollar Kotelly, United States District Court Judge. North is the third defendant to enter a guilty plea in connection with the case. According to information presented to the Court by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri L. Schornstein, North and other individuals engaged in a conspiracy to file fraudulent federal, D.C., and Maryland income tax returns generating fraudulent refunds, which were split among the participants. The fraudulent income tax returns contained false Forms W-2, Wage and Tax Statements, which either reflected employers for whom the listed tax payer had never worked or falsely overstated wages earned and taxes supposedly withheld by a true employer. A motive for the crimes was to obtain money to purchase heroin. North acting in concert with another individual, identified in court papers as "K.C.," filed false income tax returns in his own names and also allowed K.C. to use his home address, and other addresses over which he had access to the mail, to have fraudulent refund checks in the names of other individuals mailed. North admitted that he conspired to defraud the IRS of $18,647.76, to defraud the District of Columbia, OTR of $24,875.36, and to defraud the State of Maryland, Comptroller of Currency of $20,550.62. In announcing the guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Wainstein, Special Agent in Charge Rick A. Raven, and Deputy Chief Financial Officer Dan Black, commended the work of IRS Special Agent Charles Jones, OTR Special Agent Joseph Sadler, and the staff of the U.S. Attorney's Office, including Legal Assistant Lisa Robinson and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri L. Schornstein, who is prosecuting the cases. |
|