Maryland Man Indicted for Filing False Income Tax Returns

WASHINGTON - A federal grand jury in Greenbelt, Md., today indicted Thomas Robert Turner, a resident of Prince George’s County, Md., for corruptly endeavoring to obstruct and impede the due administration of the internal revenue laws between 2004 and January 2009, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. Turner is also charged with filing two false amended individual income tax returns with the IRS for 2004 and 2005.

According to the indictment, Turner worked as a bus driver for D & B Tours Inc., a tour bus company. He, along with at least two other people, caused false corporate income tax returns for 2001, 2002 and 2003 to be filed with the IRS. These corporate returns claimed false refunds of more than $177,000 based upon fraudulently inflated federal fuel tax credits. Turner also filed false individual tax returns for 2002 through 2005, which reported fictitious businesses and claimed more than $70,000 in false refunds based on fraudulently inflated federal fuel tax credits.

An indictment merely alleges that a crime has been committed, and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

John DiCicco, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division, and Rod Rosenstein, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, commended the investigative efforts of the IRS agents involved in this case, as well as Tax Division Trial Attorneys Caryn Finley and Jack Hinton, who are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.