ST. MARY’S COUNTY TAX RETURN PREPARER PLED GUILTY TO PREPARING FALSE RETURNS

Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that Joanne Adams, a Lexington Park tax return preparer, pled guilty in the Circuit Court for St. Mary’s County to two counts of preparing false State income tax returns. Adams, 58, from Pegg Drive in Lexington Park, Maryland was charged with preparing false returns for 15 of her over 500 clients between 2002 and 2004, as well as for three individuals posing as taxpayers but who were, unbeknownst to Adams, working undercover for the Comptroller’s Office.

The Honorable Marvin S. Kaminetz announced a sentencing date for July 22, 2005. Judge Kaminetz also ordered Adams not to prepare any additional tax returns as a condition of her release pending sentencing. Over the past year or so, the State Comptroller’s Office has audited 570 returns prepared by the Defendant, disallowing the refunds and assessing the taxpayer’s huge penalties and interest, totaling $1,467,516.00.

The case was investigated by the Regulatory and Enforcement Division of the State Comptroller’s Office working jointly with the Attorney General’s Criminal Investigations Division and the Maryland State Police. The maximum penalty on each count of preparing false tax returns is five years and a $10,000 fine.

#