Margaret Kirksey, a resident of Montgomery, Alabama, was sentenced May 8 in the Middle District of Alabama to eighty-one months in federal prison for filing false tax returns using stolen identities, the Justice Department and the IRS announced.

 

On January 24, 2012, Kirksey pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to defraud the government and aggravated identity theft. She was indicted by a federal grand jury on July 27, 2011, on charges of conspiracy, aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, false claims, and lying to federal agents.

 

According to court documents, Kirksey and her coconspirator, Yumeitrius Manuel, each owned and operated a tax preparation business in Montgomery, located in the same physical place. The two fraudulently inflated tax refunds by placing false information on their clients' tax returns. 

 

They also filed tax returns with the names and Social Security numbers of individuals who did not know about, and did not authorize, the filing of tax returns on their behalf. Both Manuel and Kirksey admitted that their respective crimes involved over $1 million in tax loss and more than fifty victims of identity theft. Kirksey was ordered to pay $52,242 in restitution to the IRS.

 

Manuel has also pleaded guilty to a tax conspiracy and is scheduled to be sentenced on August 8, 2012.