Aggressive and threatening phone calls by criminals impersonating IRS agents remain a major threat to taxpayers, headlining the annual “Dirty Dozen” list of tax scams for the 2016 filing season, the Internal Revenue Service announced today.

The IRS has seen a surge of these phone scams as scam artists threaten police arrest, deportation, license revocation and other things. The IRS reminds taxpayers to guard against all sorts of con games that arise during any filing season.

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“Taxpayers across the nation face a deluge of these aggressive phone scams. Don’t be fooled by callers pretending to be from the IRS in an attempt to steal your money,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “We continue to say if you are surprised to be hearing from us, then you’re not hearing from us.”
“There are many variations. The caller may threaten you with arrest or court action to trick you into making a payment,” Koskinen added. “Some schemes may say you’re entitled to a huge refund. These all add up to trouble. Some simple tips can help protect you.”

The Dirty Dozen is compiled annually by the IRS and lists a variety of common scams taxpayers may encounter any time during the year. Many of these con games peak during filing season as people prepare their tax returns or hire someone to do so.

This January, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) announced they have received reports of roughly 896,000 contacts since October 2013 and have become aware of over 5,000 victims who have collectively paid over $26.5 million as a result of the scam.

“The IRS continues working to warn taxpayers about phone scams and other schemes,” Koskinen said. “We especially want to thank the law-enforcement community, tax professionals, consumer advocates, the states, other government agencies and particularly the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration for helping us in this battle against these persistent phone scams.”
Protect Yourself

Scammers make unsolicited calls claiming to be IRS officials. They demand that the victim pay a bogus tax bill. They con the victim into sending cash, usually through a prepaid debit card or wire transfer. They may also leave “urgent” callback requests through phone “robo-calls,” or via a phishing email.

Many phone scams use threats to intimidate and bully a victim into paying. They may even threaten to arrest, deport or revoke the license of their victim if they don’t get the money.

Scammers often alter caller ID numbers to make it look like the IRS or another agency is calling. The callers use IRS titles and fake badge numbers to appear legitimate. They may use the victim’s name, address and other personal information to make the call sound official.

Here are five things the scammers often do but the IRS will not do. Any one of these five things is a tell-tale sign of a scam.

The IRS will never:

·         Call to demand immediate payment, nor will the agency call about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill.

·         Demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe.

·         Require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card.

·         Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.

·         Threaten to bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.

If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS and asking for money, here’s what you should do:

If you don’t owe taxes, or have no reason to think that you do:

·         Do not give out any information. Hang up immediately.

·         Contact TIGTA to report the call. Use their “IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting” web page. You can also call 800-366-4484.

·         Report it to the Federal Trade Commission. Use the “FTC Complaint Assistant” on FTC.gov. Please add “IRS Telephone Scam” in the notes.

If you know you owe, or think you may owe tax:

·         Call the IRS at 800-829-1040. IRS workers can help you.

Stay alert to scams that use the IRS as a lure. Tax scams can happen any time of year, not just at tax time. For more, visit “Tax Scams and Consumer Alerts” on IRS.gov.

Each and every taxpayer has a set of fundamental rights they should be aware of when dealing with the IRS. These are your Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Explore your rights and our obligations to protect them on IRS.gov.

A former owner of a Malden chiropractic practice was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Boston last week to filing fraudulent personal federal tax returns and attempting to obstruct the IRS.

Paul E. Jondle, 61, of Salem, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to one year and one day in prison, two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $202,270 in restitution, according to a press statement.

In October 2015, Jondle pleaded guilty to three counts of tax evasion and one count of obstructing the IRS.

 http://liarcatchers.com/fraud_investigation.html

Jondle operated a Malden chiropractic practice called Future Health. Jondle, who was barred from working as a chiropractor, used the names and tax identification numbers of licensed chiropractors working at Future Health for billing purposes, causing the insurance company payors to report the payments to the Internal Revenue Service as income to Jondle’s subcontractors.

In fact, the payments, mailed to Jondle and deposited into bank accounts that he controlled, were income to Jondle. From 2003 through 2007, Jondle deposited approximately $3 million into his bank accounts, yet he reported no taxable income for those years, and paid no federal income taxes. During those years, Jondle spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on personal expenses including mortgage payments on his home, landscaping, tuition payments and pet spas.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Kristina O’Connell, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston, made the announcement last week. Assistance was provided by the Massachusetts Insurance Fraud Bureau, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lori J. Holik and Rachel Y. Hemani of Ortiz’s Major Crimes Unit and Trial Attorney Jason M. Scheff of the Department of Justice’s Tax Division.

A former Brown County Sheriff’s Department worker was sentenced to life in prison Monday.

Jackson County Attorney Shawna Miller says that Dallas Bond received a life sentence without the possibility of parole for 25 years. If he is paroled, he would face lifetime supervision with electronic monitoring and would be required to register as a sex offender for a life time.

In December Bond pleaded not guilty to no contest to a charge aggravated indecent liberties with a child. In exchange for the plea counts of rape and aggravated kidnapping were dismissed.

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Prosecutors say that in 2013 Bond lured a child under the age of 14 to a Holton hotel where he committed several sexual offenses.

In 2015, Bond was sentenced to 91 months in Brown County. In that case he pleaded no contest to charges of kidnapping, possession of child pornography, identity theft and felony theft.

Kentucky State Police responded to a call about an armed robbery at the Commonwealth Pharmacy in Pikeville.

Troopers say they determined a male subject entered the pharmacy and brandished a fire arm while demanding prescription medication.

Police say the subject was approximately 5’7” and wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, gloves, a camouflage mask, jeans and boots.

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He fled the scene on foot. Two canine units were deployed from KSP and the Pikeville Police Department, but they were unable to locate him.

If you have any information relating to the case, please call the KSP Post 9 at (606) 433-7711.

This incident remains under investigation.

A Grayson County, Kentucky, former police officer and school administrator was sentenced to 48 months in prison followed by ten years of supervised release today, by Chief District Judge Joseph H. McKinley, for violating federal and state sex abuse laws, announced United States Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr.

Stephen E. Miller, age 45, pleaded guilty to four counts in a superseding information, on July 30, 2015. Miller pleaded guilty to engaging in abusive sexual contact with three female students and third degree sodomy with a fourth female student.  The incidents occurred at Bluegrass Challenge Academy between February and August 2013. Miller is in the custody of the United States Marshall Service.

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Miller previously worked as a police officer in Leitchfield, Kentucky.  He resigned the position following complaints of inappropriate conduct toward two women.  Miller then began working at Bluegrass Challenge Academy, a residential, educational program run by the Kentucky National Guard, located on Fort Knox Military Base.   Miller had supervisory authority over the Academy students.

John Smith, who was the director of Bluegrass Challenge Academy during the time, has been indicted for failure to report child abuse.If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of one year in prison, a fine of up to $100,000, and up to one year of supervised release.

Assistant United States Attorneys Amanda E. Gregory and Stephanie M. Zimdahl are prosecuting the case.  The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with assistance from the Army Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.

A Lexington Motel clerk called a woman’s bluff during her first attempt to hold up the Quality Inn, so she came back a second time with a gun.

The clerk behind the desk played it cool and waited for the woman to make her move.

“She goes inside and positions her hand in her pocket like it’s a gun and says she wants the money,” said Mark Thomas with the Lexington Police Department.

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Though Police don’t suggest this, the clerk calls her bluff and asks to see the gun.

The robber left empty handed.

“We didn’t see or hear from her again for another month and a half and then she hit mid January,” said Thomas.

This time the woman was armed.

“This girl, you can tell has very little experience with a firearm.  She’s balancing the gun in one hand and loading cash onto the same hand and at one point is even pointing it right at her face, right at her own head,” said Thomas.

She scored a few hundred bucks but police are hoping to find her soon.

Crime Stoppers is offering a cash reward for information leading to an arrest.

You can call in your anonymous tip at (859) 253- 2020.

A man was taken into custody after a high speed chase in Franklin County.

It all started about 11:45 Monday night on eastbound I-64 near Frankfort. Officers say that Jordan Hammock was clocked going 100 MPH on his motorcycle. When KSP attempted a traffic stop, officers say he sped off, crashing near exit 58.

According to his arrest citation, Hammock began running, and that’s when officers say they tased him. Documents say that after a search of his person, Hammock was found to be in possession of a 25 caliber semi automatic pistol and three small bags of cocaine.

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Police say Hammock was not hurt, but was taken to a hospital to be checked out.

He has been charged with speeding, fleeing and evading, resisting arrest, possession of cocaine, carrying a concealed deadly weapon and wanton endangerment.

Hammock did not want to speak with LEX 18.

After four decades, a rape victim came forward and now a Kentucky Corrections Officer has been arrested and charged with the crime.

59-year-old Robert Heitzman was arrested at his Campbellsburg home and is now in jail.

Kentucky State Police say they’re not sure what made the woman, now in her fifties, come forward.  They do say she told her story to a grand jury and that  the grand jury indicted Heitzman on one count of first degree rape.

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State Police say the family member came forward recently and accused Heitzman of the rape that happened decades ago. The indictment states the victim was under the age of 12 when the incident allegedly occurred between January 1975 and October 1980.

Family members hearing these allegations say they’re completely false.

“You can’t sleep at night you know for what she’s done to him, messed his life up in a lot of ways, made him lose everything he’s got for no reason ,” The defendant’s brother William Hetizman told reporters.

Heitzman has worked for the Kentucky Correctional Institute for Women in Pewee Valley since 2006. Before that, he was at the Kentucky State Reformatory in LaGrange for most of his career.

When asked about his conduct at work, corrections said he had no disciplinary actions in his file

Officials with the department of corrections say they’re taking steps to place Heitzman on special investigative leave. He’s currently in the Carroll County detention center on a $15,000 bond.

A court date has not been set for these charges.

The Metropolitan Police Department said late Sunday that a missing person identified as 14-year-old Kency Elena Flores has been found.

She was last seen on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016, at approximately 9:10 pm in the 1400 block of Park Road, Northwest (see map below) according to police.

http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html

The Metropolitan Police Department said they would like to thank both the community and media partners for assistance in publicizing the case.

The Anderson News posted surveillance footage of an armed robbery that happened in Lawrenceburg Friday night on their Facebook page.

The robbery was at the 4 Way Stop N Go.

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A cash reward is being offered for any information leading to an arrest based on a caller’s tip.

Callers are requested to call the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office at 839-4021.