Patterson tax preparer arrested for fraud scheme

A Patterson tax preparer faces multiple felony charges for a fraud scheme involving fabri-cated business losses for companies that did not exist.
Louisiana Department of Revenue investigators say Dawanna Monay Monroe of Callahan St. in Patterson filed dozens of tax returns containing phony busi-ness losses on behalf of individual taxpayers who were not business owners.

This type of fraud scheme is a common tactic among unscrupulous preparers trying to generate business by promising unrealistically large refunds for clients, the Louisiana Department of Revenue said in a release.

Monroe’s alleged fraud scheme cost Louisiana taxpayers approximately $193,000 in improper refunds.

She was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish prison on Tuesday on charges of principal to felony theft over $25,000, principal to filing or maintaining false public records and principal to illegal transmission of funds. Bail was set at $30,000, and she has been released, according to the East Baton Rouge Parish prison’s website.

Monroe is the 73rd person arrested under a joint anti-tax fraud initiative of the Louisiana Department of Revenue and the state Attorney General’s Office.