Modesto woman sentenced for tax fraud

A Modesto woman has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States by filing fake tax returns, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported this morning.

Christine Rose Caraway, 34, and former spouse Heath Roberson obtained personal identifying information from more than 40 people from December 2010 to May 2011, according to court documents. Caraway then used this information to generate false tax returns seeking more than $121,000 in tax refunds and submitted them to the Internal Revenue Service. Caraway and Roberson funneled the tax refunds into accounts they controlled.

Caraway, who pleaded guilty on Feb. 9, also was ordered by by Senior U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii to pay over $60,000 in restitution to the IRS.

Roberson pleaded guilty in April 2014 to one count of conspiring to defraud the United States. Three months later, he was sentenced to serve two years, nine months in prison and pay more than $66,000 in restitution to the IRS.

This story was originally published April 20, 2015 at 12:03 PM with the headline "Modesto woman sentenced for tax fraud."