The United States Attorney's Office

FATHER AND SON SENTENCED IN TAX SCHEME THEY TRIED TO COVER UP WHEN FATHER SHOT SON

Riverside, Calif. – A father who shot his son in an attempt to develop a “duress” defense after IRS investigators uncovered a tax fraud scheme that used personal information belonging to homeless people to file fraudulent tax returns has been sentenced to 84 months in federal prison.

Paul Hansen, 57, of Apple Valley, received the seven-year prison term late Monday from United States District Judge Stephen G. Larson, who took into account the 2002 father-son tax scheme, the shooting of the young man and a 2005 tax scheme that used personal information obtained from online “wanted” posters. In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Larson ordered Paul Hansen to pay $115,862.66 in restitution to the IRS.

The son, Adam Hansen, 28, formerly of Apple Valley and now a resident of Nebraska, was also sentenced yesterday afternoon, receiving from Judge Larson a term of 12 months in custody, to include six months in a community corrections center and six months of home confinement. In addition to the prison term, Adam Hansen was ordered to pay $93,865.66 in restitution to the IRS.

Paul Hansen pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to defraud the United States, possession with intent to use false identity documents, making false claims to the United States, possession of counterfeit credit cards and identity theft. Paul Hansen admitted that he filed false claims with the Internal Revenue Service, claims that totaled approximately $629,000 in just seven months in 2002. Additionally, Paul Hansen admitted to engaging in a second scheme in 2005 in which he filed claims seeking nearly $300,000 in refunds.

Adam Hansen pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy to defraud the United States and making false statements.

According to court documents, from February 2002 through August 2002, the Hansens conspired with others to obtain social security numbers, primarily from homeless people in Los Angeles and the Inland Empire, and to file fraudulent documents with the IRS, including papers supposedly documenting gambling winnings and tax withholdings.

The Hansens hatched the shooting scheme to develop a defense to the tax fraud scheme. After the shooting, Paul Hansen falsely claimed that a man identifying himself as “Floter Warhop” had engineered the tax scheme and then threatened him with death if the Hansens did not participate in the scheme.

A third man involved in the 2002 scheme, Mauricio Lopez, 27, pleaded guilty in July 2007 to engaging in a conspiracy with the Hansens to file false claims with the IRS and two counts of impeding the IRS in its investigation of the scheme. Lopez is scheduled to be sentenced next Monday by Judge Larson.

In 2005, after determining that he would not be prosecuted in the 2002 scheme, Paul Hansen developed another tax fraud scheme in which he filed fraudulent returns using the personal information of people discussed in “wanted” posters that had been posted by law enforcement on Internet sites.  

The cases against the Hansens and Lopez are the product of an investigation by IRS-Criminal Investigation.

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