Henry Remington Herod, 43, was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay $1.18 million in restitution for his role in preparing and filing false federal income tax returns claiming refunds, according to a July 16 announcement from United States Attorney Daniel N. Rosen of Minnesota.
Herod was sentenced before Chief United States District Court Judge Eric C. Tostrud on July 16. According to court documents, Herod conspired with Matthew McDowell and others between April 2022 and at least May 2023 to defraud the Internal Revenue Service by obtaining payment of false claims. McDowell was separately sentenced on April 6.
The scheme involved soliciting individuals’ names, addresses, and Social Security numbers, then using false employment, income, and tax credit information to file fraudulent returns. For tax year 2021, Herod filed returns claiming refundable sick and family leave credits related to COVID-19 care; he charged co-conspirators a portion of their fraudulent refunds as a fee. In tax year 2022, he prepared additional false claims including refundable fuel tax credits.
In total, Herod filed forty-two fraudulent returns for the 2021 tax year claiming over $1.29 million in refunds and sixty fraudulent returns for the following year totaling more than $1.46 million in claimed refunds. He also taught McDowell how to prepare similar filings in exchange for payment; together they completed and filed a total of 115 fraudulent federal income tax returns falsely claiming about $3 million in refunds.
“Stealing from the United States is stealing from hardworking Americans,” said Rosen. “We are grateful for the strong partnership with IRS Criminal Investigations in bringing this case forward, and we will continue working to find and prosecute those who steal from the American taxpayers.” Adam Jobes, Special Agent in Charge at IRS Criminal Investigation’s Chicago Field Office, said: “This sentencing is yet another example of the sheer greed that plagued COVID-19-era benefit programs intended to help alleviate the hardships individuals and businesses were experiencing during the pandemic… The fraud tactics change from program to program, but the tenacity of our investigators never lets up.”
Assistant United States Attorney Matthew C. Murphy is prosecuting the case.
The U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota operates under the U.S. Department of Justice with headquarters serving all state residents through offices at Minneapolis and St. Paul courthouses; it employs about 140 people including more than seventy attorneys who prosecute federal crimes such as this case while handling civil litigation for government interests, according to its official website.