Law Enforcement | WPN World People News

PHOENIX, AZ—The FBI Phoenix Field Office, in commemoration of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week (NCVRW), April 18–24, 2021, joins its federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement partners in taking this opportunity to raise awareness about crime victims’ issues and rights. NCVRW is celebrated each year in communities across the nation to honor, acknowledge, and support crime victims.

A federal grand jury in Houston, Texas, returned an indictment on March 17, 2021, charging Michael Andrew McCann with conspiring to defraud the United States, endeavoring to obstruct the IRS, failing to file tax returns, and making false bankruptcy declarations.

The United States filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia seeking to bar a Tifton, Georgia, tax return preparer from preparing tax returns for others.

A federal grand jury in New Orleans, Louisiana, returned an indictment charging three Louisiana residents with conspiracy to defraud the IRS, on March 26. One defendant, Matthew Reck, was additionally charged with making a false statement to federal agents, and the other defendants, Dawn Farrell Ruiz and David Farrell, were charged with aiding in the preparation of false returns.

A federal grand jury in Detroit, Michigan, returned an indictment charging a Bloomfield Hills businessman with tax evasion on March 24, attempting to obstruct the internal revenue laws, making a false statement, and willful failure to file his own individual income tax return.

A Montana businessman pleaded guilty to employment tax fraud, on March 24.

According to court documents, Thomas O’Connell owned and operated three plumbing businesses, Quality Plumbing and Heating, Orbit Plumbing and Heating, and Orbit PHC, each based in Great Falls. From at least 2005 through 2016, O’Connell did not pay employment taxes for several quarters, despite being obligated to ensure such taxes were paid to the IRS.

A doctor, formerly of Great Falls, Virginia, pleaded guilty to willful failure to pay employment taxes, on February 12, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Raj Parekh for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Two Louisiana tax preparers pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States, on February 10, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Peter G. Strasser for the Eastern District of Louisiana.