Two Baltimore County Women Indicted in Tax Fraud Scheme

Be careful about who you choose to do your taxes. 

That advice comes from U.S. State's Attorney of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein, who on Thursday announced a Nottingham woman and an Essex woman were indicted for tax fraud.

Nottingham resident Sheila Anderson-Cloude, 33, and Tonia Patrice Lawson, a 42-year-old Essex resident, have been accused of filing fraudulent tax returns, conspiring to defraud the government, theft of public money and making false statements.

Anderson-Cloude faces an additional two years in prison if she is found guilty of aggravated identity theft.

The 27-count indictment (attached), which was returned Tuesday, outlines a scheme in which both Anderson-Cloude and Lawson allegedly obtained identifying information from taxpayers to file the fraudulent returns. In some cases, the pair allegedly caused taxpayers to file falsified income tax returns to collect on higher refunds, often in the thousands of dollars.

"The IRS continues to work closely with the tax preparation industry to protect the American public. Return preparer fraud is a priority for IRS Criminal Investigation and we have committed many resources to investigating cases just like these. Taxpayers should be very selective in choosing a return preparer, and have confidence knowing that person will prepare accurate tax returns and safeguard their financial information,” reads a statment from Thomas J. Kelly, IRS special agent in charge.

Anderson-Cloude allegedly filed at least 13 false federal tax returns claiming refunds between $4,800 and $8,907 between February 2010 and February 2012, according to the indictment.  

As a result, Anderson-Cloude received seven tax refunds totaling $15,131. Lawson received four tax refunds totaling $16,979, the indictment shows. Lawson made payments to some of her clients using money she allegedly obtained illegally.

When questioned by authorities, Anderson-Cloude reportedly made a false statement, claiming that she never kept more than $500 and that she never made up numbers for the tax returns that she prepared. 

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