TAX NEWS - May 2009

Delaware tax: Former Newark Resident Sentenced For Filing False State Tax Returns

(Wilmington, DE) – Patrick T. Carter, Director of Revenue, announced today that former Newark resident John T. Montgomery, 51, was sentenced by NCC Superior Court Judge Babiarz to four years in prison.

The sentence was suspended with credit for time served and Montgomery was placed on supervised probation for one year. He was also ordered to pay restitution to the Division of Revenue in the amount of $1,688 and fined $2,500 after pleading guilty to state tax charges.

Montgomery previously pleaded guilty in March 2004 to multiple felony charges and his sentencing was delayed until today. The charges included filing a false income tax return seeking to fraudulently obtain a State of Delaware tax refund, identity theft, unlawful use of a credit card, attempted theft and theft.

An investigation conducted by the Delaware Division of Revenue's Criminal Investigation Unit established that Montgomery had engaged in a scheme to defraud the State of Delaware by filing false claims for State of Delaware income tax refunds totaling $3,764 that were not in fact owed to him.

Montgomery used a variety of false information in an attempt to obtain the refunds. Specifically, he misrepresented his own earnings and withholdings, and in one instance used a false social security number by filing fictitious W-2 forms that he admittedly created himself. Montgomery sought to have the refund checks mailed to his own address. As a result of the false tax returns, Montgomery received one of the fraudulent refunds totaling nearly $2,000.

This case resulted from an investigation conducted by the Division of Revenue's Criminal Investigation Unit and was prosecuted by the Attorney General's Office.