NORTH CAROLINA
A business owner plead guilty this week in federal court to filing false tax returns by recruiting people who had debts, such as home mortgages and car loans, so the debts could be filed as income, according to authorities.
Daniel Heggins and co-conspirator Joan Clark, both of Charlotte, conspired to defraud the federal government by filing false tax returns, officials said.
Sixteen false tax returns claiming more than $4 million in fraudulent refunds were filed with the IRS as part of the scheme, officials said.
According to court documents, Clark and another individual, Marlowe Williams, filed three false tax returns, requesting $900,000 in fraudulent refunds from the IRS and received $601,780, officials said.
Heggins faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
On Nov. 5, Clark, also plead guilty to two counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States. She is facing up to five years in prison.
On Nov. 9, Williams of New London, North Carolina, plead guilty to conspiring with Clark to defraud the federal government. He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
On Sept. 24, Cheryl Jones of Chicago, Illinois, plead guilty to presenting a materially false document to the IRS. Jones submitted false tax returns to the IRS at the direction of Heggins and Clark. She faces up to a year in prison.
The court has not yet set sentencing dates for any of the defendants.
(May 2015 Channel 9 TV News Report)