Accused Of Stealing Tax Refund, Trafficking In Social Security Numbers
IMMEDIATE, Friday
December 09, 2011
The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance announced today that a Westchester County tax preparer has been charged with nine felonies and a misdemeanor.
Charges against Catherine Vidarte, 29, stem from allegations that, while working for Pupilo Agency, Inc., she stole a client's tax refund, trafficked in social security numbers, and filed fraudulent personal income tax returns on behalf of clients of the Pupilo Agency, Inc. and herself. The agency is located at 206 South Broadway, Yonkers, N.Y.
Undercover officer used
Vidarte, of 57 Hearst Street, Yonkers, was charged in City of Yonkers City Court with Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree, a class E felony, for having stolen a $2,925 tax refund which had been issued to a State Tax Department undercover officer for tax returns that Vidarte had prepared. The felony complaint also charged her with Attempted Criminal Tax Fraud Act in the Third Degree for having fraudulently listed as a dependant on those same tax returns a child of another client.
Vidarte was also charged with Criminal Tax Fraud in the Fourth Degree, two counts of Offering a False Instrument for a Filing in the First Degree, all class E felonies, and Aiding or Assisting in the Giving of Fraudulent Personal Income Tax Returns, a misdemeanor, for having placed the social security numbers of another client's children on two years of personal income tax returns that Vidarte had prepared for her cousin. The felony complaint alleges that Vidarte purchased the social security numbers from the children's mother through an intermediary.
The complaint also charged Vidarte with Criminal Tax Fraud in the Fourth Degree and Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree for having prepared and filed a New York State personal income tax return for a husband and wife who were clients of the Pupilo Agency, Inc. in 2010 - which fraudulently inflated the client's charitable contributions and made other misrepresentations. It is alleged that Vidarte's misrepresentations resulted in the filing of a tax return which understated the clients' tax liability for that year by more than $3,000.
Court date set
Vidarte was also charged with three additional counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree for having submitted New York State personal income tax returns for herself in 2008, 2009 and 2010 which contained false statements.
Investigators from the State Tax Department's Criminal Investigations Division arrested Vidarte following an investigation which included the use of an undercover officer, an informant, recording devices and court ordered search warrants being executed at the defendant's residence and at the Pupilo Agency, Inc.
Vidarte is next scheduled to appear in the City of Yorkers City Court on February 8, 2012. She faces four years in prison if convicted.
Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore and Assistant District Attorney Nicole Gamble aided the State Tax Department in its aggressive prosecution of this case.
The defendants are presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.