Man charged with using fake W-2s to get refunds

A Cape Girardeau man used fake W-2s to solicit about $406,000 in fraudulent federal tax refunds, including $162,000 from December 2013 through January 2016, according to court documents.

His scheme, lasting at least three years, involved multiple accomplices, according to documents.

A federal grand jury indicted Darnell W. Moon, 28, on five counts of mail fraud and one count of wire fraud Jan. 19.

IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case, according to a news release from the federal prosecutor’s office for the Eastern District of Missouri.

Moon is expected to appear in federal court in Cape Girardeau in February, according to the release.

Paul W. Hahn will act as the lead attorney for the government.

If convicted, each count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison or fines up to $250,000, according to the release.

Moon worked with individuals to pose as employees of nonexistent companies to file false income-tax returns, according to the indictment.

He created false W-2 forms for each “employee,” claiming wages and tax withholdings, according to the indictment.

Moon then would split the refund with the individual represented in the tax filing, according to the indictment.

Moon also manufactured false dependents for individuals to claim on their tax returns, and in some cases, Moon fraudulently claimed those dependents qualified to obtain earned-income credits, according to the indictment.

For at least one return, Moon sent at least one payment of a fraudulently obtained tax refund, of $6,589, through an interstate wire transfer of funds from the United States Treasury to his mother, Mable Anderson’s, account with Regions Bank in Perry County.

The grand jury specified some of the refunds Moon fraudulently received through the mail in the charges:

• $6,154 on Anderson’s 2012 federal income-tax return. Moon claimed Anderson had three dependents with additional exemptions, and those children entitled Anderson to receive an earned-income credit for each child.
• $7,076 on Anderson’s 2014 return, which fraudulently represented Anderson as entitled to claim one dependent who qualified for an earned-income credit.
• $6,490 on Anderson’s 2010 return, which fraudulently represented Anderson as entitled to claim two dependents who qualified for an earned-income credit for each child.
• $6,350 on Anderson’s 2011 return, in which she claimed two dependents who qualified for earned-income credits.
• $4,028 on Marla Parker’s 2014 federal income-tax return, in which Parker claimed three dependents who qualified for earned-income credits.

Public information officer Jan Diltz wrote in an email there have not been indictments against Anderson, Parker or any other accomplice of Moon.

Diltz declined to comment on the business names Moon used on W-2s.

bkleine@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3644

Pertinent address:

555 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.