Greenbelt, Maryland - A federal jury convicted Charles W. Parker, Jr., age 49, of College Park, Maryland, today of conspiring to file false federal income tax returns and six counts of filing false tax returns.
The conviction was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo, of the Justice Department’s Tax Division; and Special Agent in Charge Thomas Jankowski of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Washington, D.C. Field Office.
“Criminal conspiracies involving fraudulent refund schemes victimize our nation’s honest taxpayers," said Thomas Jankowski, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Washington D.C. Field Office. “Today’s guilty verdict is a reminder that IRS-CI will remain vigilant in our investigation of these schemes and work with prosecutors to combat this type of criminal conduct."
According to evidence presented during the trial, from March to June 2009, Parker recruited clients for co-conspirator Penny Jones. Jones, a resident of Idaho, was a tax return preparer who prepared tax returns falsely reporting the amount of taxes withheld and purportedly paid to the IRS. Parker collected financial information from the client and provided the information to Jones for the preparation of the false tax returns. Parker paid Jones to prepare false tax returns for Parker and others. For example, Parker paid Jones $3,000 on March 19, $750 on March 31, and $2,450 on April 13, 2009 to prepare false returns for himself and others. Parker mailed the false tax returns to the IRS for tax years 2005 to 2008, claiming large tax refunds to which the taxpayers were not entitled.
On May 26, 2009, after Parker paid Jones to prepare a false tax return for two co-conspirators who were residents of Atlanta, Parker and Jones caused the IRS to issue a tax refund to the co-conspirators of $1,723,693. On June 3, 2009, Parker emailed the co-conspirators directing them to wire funds to Parker’s bank account. The next day, the co-conspirators transferred $182,370 into Parker’s account.
Parker and his co-conspirators caused the IRS to issue two fraudulent tax refunds totaling $2,007,568. In 2013, Jones was sentenced to 120 months in prison for her role in a scheme to help individuals obtain fraudulent tax refunds from the IRS.
Parker faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for the conspiracy, and a maximum sentence of five years in prison for each of the six counts of filing a false tax return. U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus has scheduled sentencing for March 28, 2016 at 11:00 a.m.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the Tax Division and IRS-Criminal Investigation for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Leah Jo Bressack and Trial Attorney Erin Pulice of the Department of Justice Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
