Muncie area tax preparer sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for filing nearly 400 false tax returns

Submitted by Office of the U.S. Attorney

Christina Moles, a/k/a Tina Lashley, 50, Redkey, Ind., has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to wire fraud and aiding and assisting the making of a false federal income tax return. She has also been ordered to pay $567,010 in restitution.

According to court documents, between 2015 and 2021, Moles executed a tax fraud scheme in which she falsified 382 federal income tax returns for numerous clients without their knowledge. During this time, she was a tax return preparer and frequently attracted customers by advertising that her business would guarantee large refunds. Many of her customers received between $5,000 and $10,000 in refunds despite having modest incomes.

To increase the amount of refunds her clients would receive, Moles falsely stated that her clients qualified for the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC). The AOTC is a credit for qualified education expenses paid for an eligible student for the first four years of higher education. Taxpayers can get a maximum annual credit of $2,500 per eligible student. To be eligible to claim the AOTC, a taxpayer (or a dependent) must have received a Form 1098-T, Tuition Statement, from an eligible educational institution.

For these false tax returns, Moles claimed that her clients incurred educational expenses to either Ivy Tech or Penn Foster online college. In reality, none of these clients had any education expenses and did not attend Ivy Tech or Penn Foster. In addition, neither institution provided a Form 1098-T, Tuition Statement, which Moles would have needed to claim qualified educational expenses for her clients.

The defendant’s clients received tax credits to which they were not entitled, and therefore the IRS provided them with larger tax refunds than they should have.

As a result of this scheme, Moles’ clients received tax credits to which they were not entitled, causing a loss to the Internal Revenue Service of approximately $567,010.

“Due to the defendant’s deceit, the United States lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in unjustified refunds. Even more troubling, her unsuspecting customers faced the threat of audits and the repayment of thousands of dollars they wrongly received, all because they trusted her business practices,” said John E. Childress, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. “Filing or preparing false tax returns is a serious offense that deprives the government of vital revenue for public services, and today’s sentence serves as a strong warning to anyone considering engaging in such fraudulent activity.”

“Christina Moles exploited a tax credit designed to ease the burden of higher education – twisting it into a tool for fraud,” said Ramsey E. Covington, Acting Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Chicago Field Office. “Her deceit didn’t just cheat the system; it undermined a benefit intended to help families invest in their futures. When trust is traded for profit, everyone pays the price.”

IRS-CI and USPIS investigated this case. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge James R. Sweeney II.

Acting U.S. Attorney Childress thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Eakman, who prosecuted this case.