Robert C. Logan, 29, of Kansas City, was sentenced on May 2, 2013 by United States District Judge Dean Whipple to five years of probation.
In addition, Logan was ordered to pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service in the amount of $72,680. Logan entered a guilty plea on December 13, 2012 to making false claims for federal income tax refunds.
Robert Logan knowingly executed a scheme to obtain or help others to obtain payment of false claims for refunds from the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) by preparing and filing on behalf of himself and others, false 2007, 2008, and 2009 Forms 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns, claiming refunds to which Logan knew they were not entitled.
To accomplish his scheme, Logan recruited individuals to file federal income tax returns under their own names and social security numbers.
Logan created false and inflated Forms W-2, earnings and withholding statements for the individuals. Logan then used the false Form W-2 information to prepare and file fraudulent federal tax returns with the IRS.
The false federal income tax returns were electronically filed with the IRS by Logan, on behalf of the individuals recruited to participate in the scheme.
As a result of the submission of the fraudulent federal tax returns with the false Form W-2 information, these electronically filed returns claimed tax refunds to which the individuals recruited by Logan were not entitled.
Logan often had the fraudulent refunds direct deposited into one of two accounts he held in his name at Bank Midwest and Central Communications Credit Union.
Logan would then withdraw a portion of the refund in cash and give it to the individual taxpayer and he would frequently withhold a substantial portion of the refund as a fee.
In total, Logan caused to be filed approximately 34 false tax returns falsely claiming approximately $106,174 in refunds from the United States government.
“At the IRS, protecting taxpayer money is a matter we take extremely seriously. An integral part of the agency’s mission involves detecting and catching fraudulent tax refund claims," stated Sybil Smith, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation. "The object of these schemes is to defraud the government and the taxpaying public.”
