Ohio women sentenced for using fake W-2s fo file bogus income tax returns

Three Toledo, Ohio, women convicted on charges of preparing fraudulent income tax returns have been sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Jack Zouhary and ordered to repay the IRS.

Doris A. Porterfield, owner of Elite Seamless Gutters in Toledo, was sentenced to one year in prison and ordered to pay $62,233 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

Porterfield pleaded guilty Feb. 19 to 11 counts of helping to file false federal income tax returns for giving employees of her business W-2 forms that showed greater compensation than what they received and providing W-2s from her firm to individuals who never worked there.

This enabled them to receive refunds that she then split with them.

In a separate case, Wanda Love, a former tax preparer with H&R Block in Toledo, was sentenced to 15 months in prison, and her cousin, Sonya Moses, was sentenced to six months in prison. The two women were ordered to jointly pay $134,149 in restitution to the IRS.

Love, 57, of Toledo was convicted following a jury trial in February of one count of conspiracy in the preparation of false tax returns and 59 counts of helping to prepare false tax returns.

Moses, 40, of Toledo pleaded guilty in November to conspiracy in the preparation of false tax returns for steering potential clients to Love.