A Tucson woman, Clariece Burden-Stelly, was sentenced to a term of 21 months’ imprisonment and a 36-month term of supervised release following her incarceration, for her role in a tax fraud scheme.
Burden-Stelly had previously pleaded guilty to false claims and wire fraud. Burden-Stelly was also ordered to pay over $19,000 in restitution to the U.S. Treasury as part of her sentence.
Under the scheme, Burden-Stelly filed false federal income tax returns for tax years 2012 through 2014. Burden-Stelly caused the filing of false federal tax returns under her name and the names and social security numbers of others to obtain fraudulent federal income tax refunds. Burden-Stelly fraudulently used the IRS Employer Identification Numbers (EIN’s) of her former employers to report false wage and withholding information. The fraudulent tax refunds were disbursed on pre-paid cards or by check.