El Paso Woman Charged with Tax Evasion and Bank Fraud

A federal grand jury in El Paso returned an indictment charging Dawn Marie Munoz, 52, with her role in preparing false tax returns and committing bank fraud. Munoz allegedly underreported her income to the IRS for tax years 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, and also prepared income tax returns for others where she underreported income or overreported deductions, causing the returns to be false. Additionally, Munoz fraudulently cashed checks and pocketed money she was not entitled to. If convicted, Munoz faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison on each of the Making False Returns and Preparing False Returns counts and a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison on each of the Bank Fraud counts.

Key Takeaways:

Dawn Marie Munoz, 52, of El Paso, is charged with four counts of Making and Subscribing a False Return and nine counts of Aiding and Abetting in the Preparation and Presentation of a False Return.
Munoz allegedly prepared false tax returns for herself and others between March 2016 and April 2018.
The indictment alleges that Munoz underreported her income to the IRS for tax years 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.
Munoz also allegedly fraudulently cashed checks and pocketed money she was not entitled to.
U.S. Attorney Ashley C. Hoff of the Western District of Texas, Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) Special Agent in Charge Ramsey E. Covington, and FBI Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey R. Downey announced the indictment.
The IRS-CI and FBI are investigating the case, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Mallory J. Rasmussen prosecuting the case.

Statistics:

Tax years allegedly affected: 2015-2018
Total counts against Munoz: 16 (four counts of Making and Subscribing a False Return and 12 counts of Aiding and Abetting in the Preparation and Presentation of a False Return)
Maximum sentence for each count of Making and Subscribing a False Return: three years in prison
Maximum sentence for each count of Bank Fraud: 30 years in prison

Sources:

United States Attorneys General
Mil-OSI (http://milnz.co.nz/mil-osi-aggregation/):