Jenniffer Torner Lopez, age 40, of Glendale, was sentenced on Oct. 29, 2018, to fifteen months incarceration after previously pleading guilty to one count of fraud in connection with identification documents and a separate count of illegal reentry after deportation.
Torner Lopez admitted in her plea agreement, to engaging in a false tax preparation scheme out of, and storing foreign identification cards in, her home.
Torner Lopez used the identification cards to obtain taxpayer identification numbers and file returns for foreign nationals, many of whom neither lived nor worked in the United States.
The Internal Revenue Service paid out over $246,000 in tax refunds as a result of Torner’s scheme, and she put some of her share of this money towards the purchase of her residence. As part of the plea agreement, the Court ordered Torner to pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service, which will be satisfied in part by the forfeiture of Torner’s home.