Mother and Daughter Sentenced for Defrauding IRS

A mother and daughter have been sentenced by an Amarillo judge for their role in a scheme to falsely claim tax refunds.

Evelyn Jean Wells has been sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison, following a guilty plea last January to one count of false claims for refund and aiding and abetting. Wells must also pay more than $100,000 in restitution.

Wells’ daughter, Cassandra Letriece Dean is currently serving a 21-month federal sentence for pleading guilty to the same offense. Dean also received the same restitution order.

Court documents show that Wells and Dean participated in a scheme to falsely claim income tax refunds from the government by filing, and causing others to file, false federal income tax returns for tax years 2006 through 2008.

They provided false W-2 forms, which contained fabricated employers’ names and amounts of tax withholdings, and those fake documents were submitted to tax preparers.

“The IRS, in partnership with the Department of Justice, will continue to doggedly pursue criminals who rob the U.S. Treasury by perpetrating fraudulent tax refund schemes,” said Andrea Whelan, special agent in charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division’s Dallas Field Office. “The aggressive prosecution of these individuals is vital to maintaining public confidence in our tax system.”