BORDERLAND
Toledo woman guilty of filing false tax returns
3/10/2014A federal jury has found a Toledo woman guilty of filing false claims for income-tax refunds.
Lajuana Batey, 36, was convicted following a jury trial Friday in U.S. District Court of conspiracy and five counts of filing false claims for federal income tax refunds. Batey, who is to be sentenced by Judge Jeffrey Helmick at a later date, prepared and electronically filed income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service claiming $32,543 in false tax refunds.
She and three other women were indicted in June following an investigation into income-tax returns filed between 2009 and 2011. In November, co-defendant Shereece Coffey, 31, of Toledo was placed on probation for three years and ordered to pay $35,497 in restitution after she pleaded guilty to conspiracy and six counts of filing false claims.
Latoya Batey, 25, of Arlington, Texas, is to be sentenced March 19 by Judge Helmick after pleading guilty to conspiracy and three counts of submitting false claims, while Beverly Burns, 27, of Arlington, Texas, is to be sentenced March 21 after pleading guilty to conspiracy and 15 counts of filing false claims.