Inmate's tax refund scam netted more than $70,000

Associated Press

ST. LOUIS -- A Missouri Eastern Correctional Center inmate used correction fluid and a copy machine to create fake tax refund claims and file them with the Internal Revenue Service, a federal indictment alleges.

On Thursday, a federal grand jury indicted Donald W. Sanders, 46, of St. Louis, on 66 counts of preparing and filing false income tax refund claims.

The indictment alleges that Sanders filed the phony documents in 2002 while serving time at the correctional center in Pacific. He was released in November, and U.S. Attorney Matthew Schelp said authorities are seeking him.

The indictment accuses Sanders of using a copy machine to enlarge three legitimate W-2 forms obtained from inmates who had worked at businesses outside the prison. He then altered them using correction fluid and a typewriter, the indictment says, and again employed the copy machine to reduce the size of the altered forms.

Sanders allegedly created the doctored refund claims for himself and 65 other inmates. They ranged from $454 to $1,867.52, and prosecutors estimate the total cost to taxpayers at $73,352.14.

Sanders went to prison in 1979 for burglary and later served a sentence for robbery. In 1992 he returned to prison after being convicted of criminal possession of a weapon.

Missouri Department of Corrections spokesman John Fougere said the alleged scam was discovered after an internal investigation by the department.

Fougere said state prisons give inmates access to copy machines so they can make copies of legal documents.

"Inmates have access to photocopiers because it's part of their access to the courts, which is guaranteed under the United States Constitution," he said. Correction fluid would be also provided if the inmate was using a typewriter.