Chicago Heights Woman Found Guilty In $2.1 Million Tax Fraud Case

CHICAGO HEIGHTS, IL — A Chicago Heights woman was sentenced to over three years in federal prison after she pleaded guilty to wire fraud, according to federal authorities in Hammond, Indiana.

Tanisha Bledsoe, 48, was also required to pay over $2.1 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service. On Jan. 18, a federal court ruled that Bledsoe helped prepare and file a fake tax return for one of her clients.

According to prosecutors, Bledsoe aided in filing about 540 fake tax returns from 2015 to 2016 along with two other women.

The trio would use an online program to design and file a false W-2 to accompany the false tax return in order to validate a false income higher than a client's actual reported income, authorities said.

Bledsoe was sentenced to 37 months in prison followed by one year of supervision after release.