Tax fraud ringleader pleads guilty

SBJ Staff

Posted online July 27, 2015 | 4:26 pm

The leader of a tax fraud conspiracy in Springfield pleaded guilty last week.

Cherie Christine Dupuis, 43, of Springfield, admitted she served as ringleader of a scheme that stole nearly $300,000 from the IRS via fraudulent tax returns, according to a news release from the office of Tammy Dickinson, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

From February 2009 to March 2012, Dupuis and co-conspirators prepared and filed tax returns claiming income of $340,630, of which $336,839 was false. During the extent of the scheme, the tax loss to the IRS was $284,169, according to the release.

Dupuis admitted she and co-conspirators recruited others to file fraudulent returns, and, in the process, obtained their identifying information. They used fictional employment information and reported taxes that had not been withheld and wages that had not been earned.

To conduct the scheme, Dupuis used tax preparation software TaxAct.com to build the false tax returns on her own laptops, public library computers and a co-conspirator’s laptop. She also used a co-conspirator’s mailing address on some false returns, according to the release.

Dupuis personally prepared or filed roughly $298,708 in claims, resulting in the IRS losing around $213,711, according to her guilty plea.

Under federal statutes, she could be subject to year 10 years in prison without parole, a fine of up to $250,000 and a restitution order, according to the release.

Six co-conspirators were indicted in March for their roles in the scheme: Claudia Dorsey, 33, Travis Ashmead, 29, Amanda Leigh Boyd, 32, Johnny Cooper, 25, Lisa Lorre Dehaven, 34, and Jeannie Marie Rhodes, 33, all of Springfield.

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