Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A federal grand jury returned an indictment last week charging Carlos Eduardo Pineda-Morales, 34, of Denton, Texas, with receipt of child pornography and access with intent to view child pornography.

According to an indictment unsealed today, Pineda-Morales used a communications application, a cloud storage service, and digital devices that he owned to receive and access child pornography between Oct. 7, 2024, and Oct. 30, 2024.

Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and Acting U.S. Attorney Abe McGlothin Jr. for the Eastern District of Texas made the announcement.

The FBI Dallas Office – Frisco Resident Agency and the Denton Police Department investigated the case.

Trial Attorney McKenzie Hightower of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa Miller for the Eastern District of Texas are prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Source: United States Department of Justice

A federal grand jury in Greenbelt, Maryland, returned an indictment, unsealed yesterday, charging a Maryland woman with preparing false tax returns for clients and failing to file her own tax returns.

According to the indictment, Zewdi Tsegay, of Burtonsville, ran a tax preparation business called Taxes R Us LLC, which later changed its named to Taxes 4 You LLC. The indictment alleges that from 2018 through 2024, Tsegay prepared and filed with the IRS false tax returns for clients. These returns allegedly included false business losses that benefited the client by claiming false refunds to which they were not entitled or decreasing their tax liability. 

According to the indictment, the IRS conducted an undercover operation at Tsegay’s business in March 2020. Tsegay allegedly initially prepared the undercover agent’s tax return correctly, which reflected that the undercover agent owed taxes, and then added a fictitious business loss to the return, which resulted in the return improperly requesting a refund. The indictment further alleges that from 2021 to 2023, Tsegay was required to file tax returns for herself but did not do so.

If convicted, Tsegay faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison for each count of filing a false tax return and a maximum penalty of one year in prison for each count of failing to file her own tax returns. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Karen E. Kelly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Catriona M. Coppler and Richard Kelley of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A federal jury convicted a Maryland man yesterday of 16 counts of failing to collect and pay over payroll taxes.

The following is according to court documents and evidence presented at trial: Brett Hill, of Parkton and Berlin, was the Chief Executive Officer of two telecommunications companies. As such, Hill was responsible for withholding federal income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes from his employees’ wages and paying those funds over to the government. He was also responsible for filing tax returns each quarter and for paying over the companies’ share of Social Security and Medicare taxes. From the second quarter of 2016 through fourth quarter of 2018, Hill withheld taxes from his employees’ wages at one or both of his companies but did not file tax returns or pay those taxes over to the government. Hill did not pay over his companies’ share either. Instead of paying the taxes he withheld from his employees’ paychecks, Hill paid himself a salary and paid other expenses.

In total, Hill caused a tax loss to the United States of over $1 million.

Hill will be sentenced at a later date. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each count of failing to collect and pay over taxes. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Karen E. Kelly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Shawn T. Noud and Catriona M. Coppler of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case.