A Shelton man faces three years behind bars after pleading guilty in federal court Thursday (Dec. 4) to preparing phony tax returns.
According to federal prosecutors, Bellarmin Namegabe, 46, operated a tax preparation business in Shelton and “falsely reported expenses, deductions, and credits on numerous clients’ tax returns without his clients’ knowledge or consent.”
The feds interviewed a total of 11 clients of Namegabe’s who told them that he had falsified their returns.
An agent with the IRS’ Criminal Investigation Division also went undercover, presenting himself to Namegabe as a new client and dropping off his W2 form and identifying information.
The feds say that though the agent was only entitled to a refund of $632, Namegabe doctored the numbers to generate a refund of $3,235.
Namegabe pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of aiding and assisting the filing of a false tax return, a charge that carries a maximum prison sentence of three years.
He is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 26, 2014 before U.S. District Judge Warren W. Eginton.
He also has agreed to pay back taxes, penalties and interest related to the false tax returns he prepared during the 2007 through 2011 tax years for the 11 individuals who were interviewed as part of the investigation.
The feds pegged the tax loss attributed to those false returns at $240,196.
