St. Joseph woman sentenced for tax fraud

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A 60-year-old St. Joseph woman has been sentenced to 1.5 years in federal prison without parole for her role in a $1.5 million tax fraud scheme and for individual tax fraud.

Prosecutors said Dawn Langlais was sentenced Tuesday.

Her daughter, her sister, and her sister's husband have all pleaded guilty to participating in the scheme.

Prosecutors said the Langlais and others ran Homeward Bound Health Services -- later called Silver Linings -- from 2001 until it closed in 2013.

The company withheld employee payroll taxes and kept the money rather than paying it to the IRS. The total tax loss was about $1.46 million.

They also withheld child-support payments, IRA contributions and insurance payments from employee paychecks, and some defendants didn't accurately report their individual earnings on tax forms.