Law Enforcement | WPN World People News

Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that the former mayor of Grandview, Missouri pleaded guilty in federal court to a wire fraud scheme in which he used a bogus charity to steal $35,000 in contributions from International House of Prayer, a local non-profit organization.

Abdelhamid M. Horany, 58, of Denver, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson in federal court in Denver to one count of tax evasion related to his 2007 individual income taxes, announced the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

A U.S. Army National Guard soldier pleaded guilty for her role in a bribery and fraud scheme that caused $30,000 in losses to the U.S. Army National Guard Bureau.

Bill Melot, a farmer from Hobbs, N.M., was sentenced to serve 14 years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release for tax evasion, program fraud and other crimes, the Justice Department, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Office of Inspector General announced. Melot was also ordered to pay $18,469,998 in restitution to the IRS and $226,526 to the USDA.

The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that, on February 5, 2014, Matthew Merritt, Jr., 82, of West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison after his guilty plea to charges that he engaged in a scheme to defraud a health care program and commit tax fraud. United States District Judge William K. Sessions, III, sitting in Burlington, also ordered that Merritt, Jr. serve one year of supervised release following his prison term.

U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil lawsuit in the federal court in Delaware to enjoin Carmen J. Martinez and her business, CJM Bookkeeping and Taxes LLC, from preparing federal tax returns. According to the complaint, Martinez and her business, which is located in Wilmington, Del., have prepared more than 7,800 tax returns since 2010.

Roger L. Baeza, 32, of Jal, New Mexico, was sentenced earlier to 61 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for his conviction on securities fraud, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft charges. Baeza also was ordered to pay $501,927.10 in restitution to the victims of his crimes.

U.S. District Judge D. Lowell Jensen sentenced Noemi Rubio Baez, of Salinas, Calif., to serve 30 months in prison for her involvement in a stolen identity tax refund fraud scheme, Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally for the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag for the Northern District of California announced that.

Dr. Dayo Obebe of Muscogee County, Ga., pleaded guilty in federal court in Columbus, Ga., to one count of tax evasion, announced Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally of the Justice Department's Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Michael J. Moore for the Middle District of Georgia.

Top officers and a salesman for an investment company based in Nashville, Tenn., have pleaded guilty for their roles in an $18 million Ponzi scheme.