Man Convicted in $7M Tax Scam Sentenced to Prison

College Park, MD — A man who helped prepare fake federal tax returns that claimed $7.7 million in refunds was sentenced to 97 months in prison Monday, according to the Justice Department.

Charles W. Parker Jr., 49, of College Park was convicted in November 2015 by a federal jury on one count of conspiring to defraud the United States and six counts of filing false income tax returns.

According to the evidence presented at trial, between March and June 2009, Parker recruited clients for co-conspirator Penny Jones, 65, formerly of Rigby, Idaho. Jones, a tax return preparer in Idaho, prepared tax returns falsely reporting the amount of taxes withheld and purportedly paid to the IRS.

Federal prosecutors say Parker collected financial information from clients and provided it to Jones for the preparation of the false tax returns. Parker paid Jones to prepare false tax returns for Parker and others.

Court records say Parker mailed the false tax returns to the IRS between 2005 and 2008, claiming large tax refunds to which the clients were not entitled. Parker caused the filing of 14 false tax returns in just a six month period that fraudulently claimed $7.753 million in tax refunds.

In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus for the District of Maryland ordered Parker to serve three years of supervised release and pay restitution to the IRS in the amount of $2 million.

In 2013, Jones was sentenced to 144 months in prison for her role in the scheme.