Cotati Tax Preparer Sentenced For Fraud

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, CA — A Cotati tax preparer was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco to two years and nine months in prison for tax fraud and ordered to pay $657,888 in restitution.

Stanley Charles, 33, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney in July to one count of preparing a false income tax return for a couple who were clients and one count of filing a false return for himself for the 2011 tax year.

He admitted in a written plea agreement to preparing a total of 428 fraudulent returns listing false deductions and credits for other taxpayers between 2009 and 2015.

The $657,888 in restitution ordered by Chesney includes $648,063 in restitution to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and $9,825 for four clients who were ordered by the IRS to repay the undeserved refunds.

The two years and nine months in prison and the restitution amount were agreed to by both sides in the plea agreement.

Prosecutors said in a court filing that the fraudulent returns either claimed false education credits or inflated business expenses, education expenses and charitable contributions. Charles's business was based in Petaluma, according to prosecutors.

By Bay City News Service