From: Nigel.Allen@bbs.oit.unc.edu (Nigel Allen)
Subject: California Woman Convicted in Computerized Income Tax Refund Scheme
Organization: Echo Beach
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 03:42:59 GMT

Here is a press release from the U.S. Justice Department.
 
 California Woman Convicted in Income Tax Refund Scheme
 To: National Desk, California Correspondent
 Contact: U.S. Department of Justice, 202-514-2007
 
   FRESNO, Calif., Aug. 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Acting Assistant
Attorney General James A. Bruton and the United States Attorney for
the Eastern District of California, George L. O'Connell, announced
Monday, Aug. 17, that Enedina Ochoa of Turlock, Calif., 26, was
convicted by a federal jury on Friday, Aug. 14, of one count of
conspiracy to defraud the government and 20 counts of assisting
others in filing false income tax refund claims with the Internal
Revenue Service.
   The jury trial lasted four days before United States District
Judge Oliver W. Wanger.  Wanger ordered Ochoa held in custody pending
sentencing.
   Ochoa's scheme exploited the Internal Revenue Service's newly
implemented electronic filing system, which allows filers of refund
claims to receive their refund checks in one or two days.  By causing
large numbers of false refund claims to be electronically filed,
Ochoa and her co-conspirator, Karleena Pulido, fraudulently obtained
approximately $100,000 from the Internal Revenue Service.  Most of
the criminal activity involved 1991 federal income tax returns filed
earlier this year.
   Ochoa and Pulido, a Turlock income tax preparer who pled guilty
two weeks ago to conspiracy to defraud the government and 29 counts
of assisting others in filing false claims for income tax refunds,
engaged in a scheme to electronically file false refund claims
with the I.R.S. by recruiting individuals to provide their real
names and social security numbers for use by Pulido on false Forms
W-2 which Pulido fabricated.  Ochoa then assisted the recruited
individuals in electronically filing these false refund claims with
the I.R.S. from electronic return transmitters such as Cash-N-Dash,
an income tax transmittal and check cashing service headquartered in
Fresno.  Ochoa and Pulido then divided divided the refund proceeds
among themselves and the individuals they recruited.
   The long-standing I.R.S. system of filing paper returns requires a
taxpayer to wait several weeks before receiving a refund check.
   Ochoa and Pulido face a maximum sentence of ten years imprisonment
and a fine of $250,000 for the conspiracy convictions and five years
imprisonment for each conviction of assisting in the filing of a
false claim.  Sentencing is set for Oct. 19, and Oct. 26, for Pulido
and Ochoa, respectively, before Wanger.
   The case is the result of an extensive and ongoing investigation
of electronic filing fraud by special agents of the Internal Revenue
Service's Criminal Investigation Division, and was prosecuted by
Department of Justice Tax Division Trial Attorneys Eric C. Lisann and
Floyd J. Miller.  It is the first prosecution of this type of crime
in this judicial district, and is one of only a very few such cases
that have gone to trial anywhere in the United States since the
inception of the Internal Revenue Service's electronic filing system.
   Acting Assistant Attorney General James Bruton stated, "This
conviction serves as notice that the federal government is committed
to early detection and prosecution of electronic filing schemes.
Blatant abuse of the Internal Revenue Service's computerized refund
program will not be tolerated."  According to Rick Speier, chief of
the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division in San
Jose and Fresno, "as the use of electronic filing increases, the
Internal Revenue Serivce will continue to be vigilant in identifying
electronic filing schemes organized by unscruplous individuals who
seek to exploit the system for criminal purposes."
 -30-


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