It was announced on Wednesday, that 38-year-old Rebecca Renee Powell was sentenced in U.S. District Court by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Burgess to ten months in prison for preparing false returns for drug dealers.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephanie Courter and Thomas Bradley, who prosecuted the case, Powell, the owner of Alaska Contractors Bookkeeping Service, a bookkeeping, payroll, and tax service business in Wasilla, Alaska, admitted that she prepared false U.S. individual income tax returns for multiple individuals whose income was primarily derived from the sale of illegal narcotics. She prepared several of these returns knowing that they omitted substantial gross receipts derived from marijuana sales. Because Powell omitted the illegal drug sales, the individuals filing these returns falsely claimed and received the Earned Income Credit for tax years 2003 through 2007.

Powell admitted to preparing returns where she hid the source of her client’s income and further concealed the income source by making it appear as if the income was generated by a legitimate business.

Powell worked an elaborate scheme to substantiate the figures that she supplied on the income tax forms. Powell would fabricate bills of sale as well as other documents, and admitted that she used a phone book to pick names at random to use as customers for the fake business transactions for the drug dealers. For pricing of different items, Powell admitted that she used the Internet to find pricing for products and services so that the pricing stayed close to the pricing at her client’s legitimate businesses.

Powell’s Income Tax preparation business practices would come to light in March of 2009, when she prepared two false income tax returns for an undercover agent. When working for that agent, Powell admitted that the income and expense numbers on the returns were fabricated and offered to create paper such as invoices and other documents to make it seem as if the proceeds from the purported drug dealer would appear as legitimate income from a legitimate source.

Kenneth J. Hines, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation Division in Alaska said in a statement, “Dishonest tax return preparers who abuse their position and file false returns or help others conceal ill-gotten gains from criminal activity run the risk of prosecution. Anyone contemplating manipulation of the integrity of our tax system for personal gain should consider that they may one day find themselves before a judge answering for those actions.”

Powell was also ordered to pay restitution to the United States Treasury for the amount of $13,910 and required to be under supervised release for a period of one year after her incarceration. During that time, Powell is prohibited from preparing any tax returns.