Three Sacramento women have pleaded guilty to roles in a $1.3 million tax fraud scheme.
Nadiyah Muhammad Woods, 33, Nakia Renee Vaughn, 26, and Tomisha Lee McKinnie, 24, pleaded guilty today to obtaining tax refunds by filing false tax returns, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.
According to court documents, the three women filed false tax returns using Turbo Tax, an online tax preparation software. To operate the scheme, they obtained Green Dot and other debit cards offered through the TurboTax software that were loaded with the tax refunds of taxpayer victims whose identities they used.
The women had the tax refunds mailed to various addresses under their control in Sacramento County. They then posed as the victims to activate the debit cards, cash the checks and obtain cash, goods and services, officials said.
The scheme reportedly involved more than 280 false tax returns and more than 200 victim taxpayers. The women attempted to obtain $1,366,427 from the Internal Revenue Service, with $962,079 paid by the IRS.
Vaughn and McKinnie are to be sentenced on Aug. 29 by U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller. They are in custody pending sentencing.
Woods is to be sentenced Sept. 5 and is on supervised release pending sentencing.
The case resulted from an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, the Department of the Treasury, Office of the Inspector General for Tax Administration, and the United States Postal Inspection Service, with the assistance of the Sacramento Police and Sacramento County Sheriff's departments.
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