Ex-inmates sentenced in tax scheme

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Two former state inmates were sentenced Friday for their role in a scheme to bilk the federal government out of more than $9,000 by filing false income tax returns while they were incarcerated.

They are among five former prisoners who have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from returns filed between Feb. 19, 2000, and April 15, 2002.

U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan Jr. sentenced Linden James Schuster, 44, of Lexington, Mo., to two years and six months in federal prison without a chance of parole. Gary Sembler, 55, of Independence, Mo., was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison without parole.

Prosecutors said the five men, while incarcerated at the Moberly Correctional Center, charged fellow prisoners $100 to have a false tax return filled out, sent to coconspirators outside of the prison, then filed with the IRS in hopes of getting a refund.

Prisoners used their own names and Social Security numbers on 1040EZ returns, claiming low earnings, no withholdings and an earned income credit on each.

Prosecutors said 27 of 85 returns that were filed made it past the IRS and resulted in refunds ranging from $331 to $355.

The defendants had sought $29,507 in refunds.

Of the others in the case, 41-year-old John V. Frentzel of Columbia was sentenced in April to three years and one month in prison without parole.

Russell D. Kilgore, 41, of Excelsior Springs and Dusty A. McSparran, 30, of Lee's Summit have not been sentenced.