Inmate Sentenced for Filing False Tax Return

MADISON, WI—Stephen P. Sinnott, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Darnell Moon, 21, an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution at Oxford, Wis., was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Barbara B. Crabb to 14 months in prison for filing a false tax return. Moon pleaded guilty to this charge on September 23, 2009.

Between May and August 2008, Moon, while serving a 78-month sentence for armed bank robbery, prepared and mailed 26 tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), claiming tax refunds totaling $54,881. Moon used the names and social security numbers of ten other inmates incarcerated with him at FCI-Oxford to prepare the false tax returns.

The IRS identified the false returns by utilizing its system which scrutinizes tax returns submitted by federal inmates and when multiple returns are prepared by the same person. As a result, the IRS did not pay any of the illegally claimed tax refunds.

Judge Crabb further ordered that Moon's entire sentence be served consecutively to his current federal sentence for bank robbery. As a result, Moon will not be eligible for release from prison until April 13, 2014.

The charges against Moon were the result of an investigation conducted by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal investigation Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution of the case has been handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul W. Connell.