Alice H. Martin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, and C. Andre Martin, Special Agent In Charge, Internal Revenue Service, announce that DOROTHY M. SHEPHERD, age 43, of Ensley, and ANITA L. STEWART, age 34, of Bessemer, Alabama, were sentenced today by United States District Judge U. W. Clemon on charges of conspiring to file fraudulent tax returns for tax clients claiming false refunds during 1999 and 2000.

According to Martin, SHEPHERD was sentenced to twelve (12 ) months in prison and was given two (2) years supervised release. STEWART also received (12) months custody and (2) years supervised release. Martin stated, "The defendants were convicted after an investigation into the scheme to receive $160,000 in fraudulent tax refunds. The two tax return preparers would fabricate income and deduction information for individuals, some who were unemployed. For other clients, they would use false deductions and dependent names in order to overstate exemptions and gain use of earned income credits in order to create fraudulent refunds."

This case was investigated by Special Agents of the Criminal Investigation Division, Internal Revenue Service.

Assistant United States Attorney Ronald R. Brunson prosecuted the case.

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