Tax preparer pleads guilty to identity theft, preparing false returns
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Version 0 of 1. A Maryland woman faces five years in federal prison after she pleaded guilty to helping others file fraudulent tax returns using stolen identities. The U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland said Maria Espinal pleaded guilty on Friday to aiding and assisting in filing false tax returns and aggravated identity theft. Prosecutors said Espinal owned and operated a tax-return preparation business in Gaithersburg, where for six years, beginning in 2011, she filed false tax returns to secure state and federal refunds for her clients to which they were not entitled. In total, prosecutors estimate that Espinal defrauded the government of more than $100,000, according to the federal plea agreement filed in court records. Mormon Church has misled members on $100 billion tax-exempt investment fund, whistleblower alleges Prosecutors said Espinal, 53, who lives in Montgomery Village, altered W-2 forms using made-up Social Security numbers or numbers assigned to victims who had been past clients. The forms were then made out in the names of new clients and filed, resulting in tax refunds for people who did not earn them. Espinal’s office even had a sign on the wall that stated: “If you have lost your [identification] number or passport we have these people,” and a list of names with relevant identification numbers and information, prosecutors said. “Espinal also filed a tax return using another individual’s personal identifying information to generate a fraudulent refund that Espinal deposited into her own personal bank account,” the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement. An email to the federal public defender who represented Espinal was not returned on Sunday. Neither Espinal nor her relatives could be reached. She is scheduled to be sentenced on April 2. She faces mandatory sentences of two years in prison for aggravated identity theft and three years in prison for aiding the preparation of a false tax return. |