IRS Employee Pleads Guilty in Federal Court to Receiving a Bribe
| U.S. Attorney’s Office January 05, 2010 |
DALLAS—Fernando Hernandez pleaded guilty this morning before U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay to one count of receiving a bribe by a public official, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. Hernandez, 33, of Dallas, faces a maximum statutory sentence of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Lindsay on March 29, 2010.
Hernandez was arrested on October 9, 2009, at his IRS office in Dallas on the felony bribery charge outlined in an indictment returned by a grand jury in Dallas earlier that week. He was released on a personal recognizance bond.
In plea documents filed in court, Hernandez, then an employee of the IRS, admitted that on June 3, 2005, he sought and accepted a $2000 cash payment from a U.S. taxpayer in return for Hernandez’s promise that he would ensure that no IRS representative would audit that taxpayers return.
The case is being investigated by the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development - Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorney David L. Jarvis is in charge of the prosecution.