Gary Pair Indicted For Theft Of Over $3 Million In Tax Refunds

HAMMOND- United States Attorney David A. Capp announced today that a federal grand jury in Hammond returned a five-count indictment on May 19, 2016 charging a man and woman from Gary, Indiana with stealing over $3 million in tax refunds from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The indictment charges Donald L. Armour, 65, and Veronica Young, 46, both of Gary, Indiana, with one count of Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud.  Young is additionally charged with one count of False Claims, and Armour is additionally charged with three counts of False Claims. 

The indictment alleges that from about July 2011 to about February 2013, Armour and Young devised a scheme to defraud which involved filing false and fraudulent tax returns in order to obtain fraudulent refunds from the IRS.  Specifically, the indictment alleges that Armour and Young created several trusts, named themselves as the trustees, and filed fraudulent tax returns for those trusts.  The trust tax returns contained fraudulent representations designed to result in a high refund.  Armour received three refund checks, totaling more than $2.7 million, for three separate trusts for which he filed fraudulent tax returns.  Young received one refund check for over $300,000 for a trust for which she filed a fraudulent tax return. 

The IRS was able to recover approximately $2.2 million of the money issued to Armour and Young in fraudulent refunds.

Armour and Young were taken into custody and had their initial appearance today before Magistrate Judge Andrew Rodovich.

The case is being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria N. Lerner.

The United States Attorney's Office emphasized that an Indictment is merely an allegation and that all persons charged are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.

If convicted in court, any specific sentence to be imposed will be determined by the judge after a consideration of federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

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