Littleton Woman Sentenced For Fraud, Not Declaring Income

LITTLETON, CO — A Littleton woman has been sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for mail fraud and tax evasion.

In addition to her sentence, Kristin Martin, 39, was also ordered to pay $872,337.68 in restitution for the fraud to her former employer and $161,864 to the IRS for the tax evasion, U.S. Attorney Jason Dunn said.

As an executive assistant, Martin was given unique identification and a password to purchase office supplies for her company, according to a plea agreement. Between 2013 and 2016, she used her ID and password to buy I-Pads, Apple TVs, Kindles, and other items, which she kept and then resold on eBay for her own profit, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

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The fraudulent purchases cost her employer $864,441.11, and Martin received more than $571,700, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Martin was able to facilitate the scheme by intentionally assigning the fraudulent purchases to 23 different cost centers so each one would be less likely to notice the fraudulent charges, the office said. Martin also used her company’s Federal Express account to ship the fraudulently purchased items to her buyers, court documents show.

Martin didn't give her personal accountant information about the online sales until she received a notice of additional income from the IRS, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. She then gave her accountant false information about the cost of goods sold and other expenses she did not incur in order to significantly reduce her income tax liability, court documents show. Based on the false information, her accountant then prepared a false and fraudulent 2014 amended tax return that was filed with the IRS, the office said.

“Ms. Martin not only stole from her employer, she stole from all of us as taxpayers” Dunn said. “Thanks to the FBI, IRS-CI, USPIS and the team in my office, she was caught and will now have time in a federal prison to contemplate the harm that this type of behavior does.”