Olney Man Gets Jail Time For False Tax Returns

GREENBELT, MD — An Olney man was sentenced to three years in prison for wire fraud stemming from the filing of fraudulent tax returns, a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Mehlek Dawveed, 51, pleaded guilty to filing a fraudulent income tax return for 2010 and in turn receiving a refund of $977,558.

For Dawveed to receive the funds, the IRS wired the money from a bank in Kansas City, Missouri to Dawveed’s account in Maryland, prosecutors said.

Dawveed used the money to pay the remaining $83,837 balance on the mortgage for his residence in Olney and deposited a $250,000 check into his wife's bank account. He wrote several other checks into accounts controlled by him or close associates and wrote checks to various individuals and family members and for his own personal expenses, prosecutors said.

In February 2012, Dawveed filed a fraudulent income tax return for 2011 in which he requested a refund in the amount of $1,324,961. This falsely requested refund was not issued.

On February 27, 2012, Dawveed then filed a 2010 Form 1040X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, in which he changed his taxable interest income from $1,486,902 to $0 and stated: “we now beckon you to accept our humblest apology for the ‘Unintentional Errors’ made during our 1040 filing for Tax Year 2010 for they were not done with ‘Malicious Intent.’”

The form falsely stated: “In ‘Good Faith’ we submitted a Payment of $5,000,000 Million Dollars to the IRS on January 31, 2012 in hopes of settling the remaining ‘Debt’ from our 1040 Tax Filing for Year 2010.”

The $5,000,000 payment was never made, prosecutors said.

Dawveed was sentenced to three years in prison Friday, followed by three years of supervised release.

The judge also ordered a forfeiture and restitution order in the amount of $788,991. Dawveed was also ordered to forfeit his Olney residence, the mortgage for which he paid off with the fraudulent tax refund money.

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