On Oct. 28, 2014, in Portland, Maine, Stacey A. Backman, of Brunswick, Maine, was sentenced to 20 months in prison and ordered to pay $365,168 in restitution. On June 9, 2014, Backman pleaded guilty to federal program and tax fraud. According to court documents, Backman was a fund accountant at Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI). CEI is a private, nonprofit, charitable community development corporation and community development financial institution based in Wiscasset, Maine that received more than $10,000 in federal funds each year. From 2010 to January 2014, Backman embezzled $365,168 from CEI and failed to report the embezzled income on her federal income tax returns. CEI learned of the embezzlement in January 2014 and terminated Backman’s employment.
On Oct. 27, 2014, in Raleigh, North Carolina, Jeffrey Wayne Scott was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison for tax evasion. Scott previously pleaded guilty to one count of willfully attempting to evade his personal income tax for tax year 2007. According to court documents, Scott owned and operated Greenville Loop Seafood (GLS). For tax years 2006 through 2010, Scott and his wife filed joint individual income tax returns. Scott reported that his taxable income for these five years ranged between $23,934 and $92,999, and paid only $91,800 in federal income taxes for this time period. However, during these five years, the Scotts spent far in excess of this reported taxable income on personal expenditures. Between 2006 and 2010, the Scotts paid for nearly all of their living expenses with checks from GLS. Scott also made a monthly transfer of $10,000 from the GLS business account into a personal brokerage account. After the purchase of their home in June 2009, Scott stopped transferring funds to the brokerage account, but instead used funds from the GLS business account to pay the mortgage and related expenses. Scott failed to report in excess of $1,270,000 in taxable income for these five years and owed at least $412,844 in additional federal income taxes. Furthermore, despite being aware that he was under criminal investigation, in November 2012, Scott filed a false 2011 corporate income tax return claiming work on his personal residence, including painting and repair work by a plumber, and health bills related to his family dog as business expenses.
On Oct. 27, 2014, in San Francisco, California, Sandra Lynn Vitorelo, aka Sandra Mathewson, was sentenced to 24 months in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $91,442 in restitution. Vitorelo pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns. According to court documents, Vitorelo had her own tax return preparation and accounting business called M-V Services. In 2000, Vitorelo became the bookkeeper for her cousin. Vitorelo managed her cousin’s assets including stocks, currency, and real property. In 2006, the daughter of Vitorelo’s cousin opened a clothing store in Novato, California. Vitorelo subsequently began managing the finances for that store. Vitorelo made unauthorized transfers from the bank accounts of her cousin and cousin’s daughter to her own bank accounts. Vitorelo misappropriated at least $248,583 which she kept for her own use. Vitorelo further underreported her income on her federal income tax returns beginning in 2006 and continuing through 2009 as a result of her intentional failure to report these funds as income.