In tax fraud case, woman must repay IRS nearly $600K

A 44-year-old Berks County woman has been sentenced in U.S. District Court in Easton to five years of probation for conspiring to defraud the federal government of nearly $600,000 in tax revenue.

Jaimee Dautrich, address unavailable, also was ordered Wednesday by U.S. Judge Edward G. Smith to pay $595,462 in restitution to the IRS.

Dautrich pleaded guilty Feb. 12 to one count of conspiring to defraud the government in 2014 and 2015 by allowing clients to fraudulently receive tax refunds.

In January 2014, co-defendant, Linda Morgandale, hired Dautrich to work at Morgandale’s business, the Tax Lady in Robeson Township.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Priya T. De Souza said in a sentencing memorandum that Morgandale trained Dautrich to fabricate expenses.

Dautrich was not the mastermind behind the scheme, but was a willing participant, the prosecutor said.

“Dautrich is less culpable than her co-defendant in the scheme,” De Souza wrote. “She learned how to operate fraud from her codefendant.”

Morgandale, 62, was sentenced Sept. 9 to six months of house arrest for conspiring to defraud the federal government of nearly $600,000 in tax revenue.

Morgandale also was ordered to serve 4½ years of probation after the home confinement. And she was ordered to pay $598,511 in restitution to the IRS and precluded from working in tax preparation for five years.

Prosecutors said Morgandale covered her tracks writing on the tax returns that the return was “self prepared” rather than including her personal identification number.