Bastrop Tax Preparer Sentenced to 39 Months in Prison for Preparing False Returns, Wire Fraud and Identity Theft

MONROE, La. – United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced today that a Bastrop tax preparer was sentenced to 39 months in prison for filing fraudulent income tax returns using stolen identities and false information.

Claudia Marie Mays, 41, of Bastrop, La., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert G. James for one count of aiding and assisting in making and subscribing a false tax return, two counts of wire fraud, and two counts of identity theft. She was also ordered to pay $94,043.15 restitution and was sentenced to three years of supervised release. According to evidence presented at the June 17, 2014 guilty plea, Mays prepared fraudulent income tax returns and filed 15 fraudulent tax returns using stolen identities and false information from January 2011 to April 2011. The IRS issued $94,043.15 in fraudulent refunds because of the scheme.

Co-conspirator Carla Inzina, 53, also of Bastrop, assisted Mays in filing one of the fraudulent returns by obtaining another person’s personal information and using it to file a false return without the person’s permission. Inzina was sentenced to three years of probation for one count of aiding and assisting in making and subscribing a false return.

The IRS Criminal Investigation-Shreveport Division conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth D. Reeg prosecuted the case.