A 41-year-old Portland woman was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison for filing more than 200 false income tax returns that claimed more than $1.2 million in fraudulent refunds.
Danyelle Calcagno conspired with a co-defendant, Latisha L. Simmons, of Phoenix, to file at least 224 income tax returns using other people’s names and social security numbers, prosecutors said.
She filed the returns from Portland-area hotels, using their Internet access to disguise the source of the filing. While she sometimes checked into the hotels using her own name, she frequently had others check in for her to further mask her offense, according to tax division trial attorney Leslie Goemaat.
Calcagno directed the Internal Revenue Service to deposit the fraudulent refunds into different bank accounts and prepaid debit cards in order to divide the proceeds, and make it difficult for law enforcement to track her down.
Calcagno was sentenced after she had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the government, aggravated identity theft and wire fraud.
U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones also ordered Calcagno to pay $742,754 in restitution to the IRS, the total received as a result of the fraudulent returns filed. She’ll face three years of supervised release after she completes her prison term.
In October 2015, Simmons was sentenced to serve three years and three months in prison for her role in the scheme.
Calcagno paid Simmons a recruiting fee of $50 to $100 a person to funnel stolen identities to her, according to prosecutors.
Calcagno has a lengthy criminal record, starting with a theft charge at age 18. In October 2016, she was charged with her fifth driving under the influence of intoxicants charge. A Multnomah County Sheriff’s deputy arrested her after she was seen swerving across lanes on Interstate 84 and sideswiped the jersey barrier, Goemaat wrote in the sentencing memo.
— Maxine Bernstein
mbernstein@oregonian.com
503-221-8212
@maxoregonian
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