Tax Fraud Mastermind Considered a Fugitive

The mastermind of the nation’s largest computerized tax fraud scheme failed to appear for sentencing in Los Angeles federal court and is being sought as a fugitive, the IRS said Wednesday.

Jerome Hearne, 35, of Paramount pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to submit false income tax claims in November and 15 counts of aiding others to file false claims. Hearne, who was scheduled to be sentenced in U.S. District Court on Tuesday, orchestrated the electronic filing of hundreds of false income tax returns in a Van Nuys-based scheme that defrauded the Internal Revenue Service of about $1 million, prosecutors said.

Seven other defendants have been convicted and sentenced in the case, including two on Tuesday. Claudell Green, 28, of Van Nuys was sentenced to two years in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution of $61,000 to the U.S. Treasury by Judge Laughlin E. Waters, said Phil Xanthos, head of investigations for the IRS in Los Angeles.

Elton Chambers, 45, of Sunland was sentenced to three years probation and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service for filing a false refund claim, Xanthos said.