Muldrow Woman Sentenced on Charges of Misprision of a Felony and Filing False Documents with the IRS

FORT SMITH—Conner Eldridge, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, announced today that Alys Marie Dimmitt, of Muldrow, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 37 months’ imprisonment for misprision of a felony and filing false and fraudulent documents. Specifically, Dimmitt filed false documents with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) knowing that those documents contained materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements and entries.

Dimmitt was originally indicted in February 2011, along with her sister, Sharon Henningson, and brother-in-law, Timothy Donavan, for conspiring to commit a mail fraud scheme that took over $2.2 million from approximately 16,000 victims who were defrauded by paying an application fee to work from home stuffing envelopes. As a part of her plea agreement, Dimmitt entered a plea of guilty to both counts of a two-count information on October 21, 2011 and the government dismissed her from the original indictment. The information charged Dimmitt with one count of misprision of a felony for concealing the commission of mail fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 4, and one count of filing false documents with the Internal Revenue Service.

According to the plea agreement, Trail Head Options Inc. (Later renamed Premier Solutions), an enterprise in Van Buren, Arkansas, sent solicitations through the mail that offered work-at-home opportunities to earn $2,900 to $5,000 per week by stuffing envelopes. Trail Head Options Inc. used a post office box in Van Buren to receive its mail. In 2006, an employee at the Van Buren Post Office reported to the United States Postal Inspection Service that the Van Buren Post Office was receiving numerous complaints from individuals who had sent money to Trail Head Options Inc. for materials to stuff envelopes. The complainants indicated they were unable to get anyone from Trail Head Options Inc. to refund money paid for the materials they never received. Dimmitt rented a mailbox at a UPS Store in Van Buren which was used to receive checks from people responding to the home-based envelope stuffing business advertised by Premier Solutions. Dimmitt also opened a bank account with U.S. Bank that was used by Trail Head Options Inc. and Premier Solutions to deposit money the businesses received from people who responded to the solicitations.

This case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (“TIGTA”), and the United States Marshals Service. Assistant United States Attorney Kyra Jenner prosecuted the case for the United States.