PACOIMA : Woman Sentenced for Tax Fraud
A 20-year-old Pacoima woman was sentenced to 16 months in prison for her role in the largest electronic tax fraud prosecuted this tax season in California, the U.S. attorney’s office said Wednesday.
Los Angeles U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson sentenced Khamil Burkley for conspiring with others to defraud the Internal Revenue Service by assisting in the filing of false tax refund claims, said U.S. Atty. Eric C. Lisann.
“This is a fairly new crime that has been growing in popularity,” Lisann said.
Burkley was the first of four defendants convicted in the tax scam to be sentenced, Lisann said. Lorence Hammond, 23, of Panorama City; Randy Slone, 32, of Van Nuys, and Dwayne Donaldson, 27, of Crenshaw, are scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 9.
Authorities suspected the four of recruiting as many as 200 people and helping them to file electronically for false 1991 income tax refunds that cost the federal government more than $500,000, Lisann said.
Burkley was convicted of distributing paperwork and false tax returns so that others could file the fake claims, Lisann said. Slone and Hammond prepared the false income tax refund claims and Donaldson helped recruit people for the scheme, he said.
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