Fourth defendant sentenced in Farmington tax fraud conspiracy

 

Date: September 29, 2022

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White on Thursday ordered the fourth of four defendants involved in a tax fraud conspiracy to pay $26,558 to the IRS.

Tammy Flanagan was also sentenced to five years of probation.

All four defendants pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States, and admitted participating in a scheme to underreport money paid to contractors who performed work at apartment complexes.

Patricia Jane Tucker, of Fredericktown, was the manager of the MACO Management Company office in Farmington, Missouri, and Flanagan, Robin McWilliams, and Billie McFadden, of Fredericktown, were property managers. All were responsible for hiring contractors to work on the properties. They hired their spouses as contractors, then manipulated computer records to prevent the submission of 1099 forms to the IRS that would have reflected the money paid to those contractors.

McWilliams triggered a failure to report about $398,250 in taxable income in 2013 and 2014, resulting in a $124,175 in tax loss to the IRS.

Flanagan failed to report about $41,770 in taxable income in 2013 and $39,640 in 2014, causing a tax loss of $26,558.

McFadden caused the failure to report $28,442 in 2013 and $19,194 in 2014 for a total tax loss of $46,636.

On Sept. 20, Judge White sentenced Robin McWilliams to four years of probation and ordered her to repay $124,175. In July, Patricia Jane Tucker was placed on probation for four years and ordered to repay $357,917. In March, Billie McFadden also received four years of probation and was ordered to repay $47,636.

"Tax evasion is not a victimless crime. When people scheme to evade paying taxes, it's local communities and honest taxpayers who end up paying," said IRS-CI Acting Special Agent in Charge, Charles Miller, St. Louis Field Office. "Ms. Flanagan and her co-conspirators knowingly took part in a scheme to cheat the IRS. We take such violations of the nation's tax laws very seriously."

The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwendolyn Carroll prosecuted the case.