Redkey woman gets 18 months in prison

INDIANAPOLIS — A Redkey woman was sentenced to federal prison for tax fraud.

Christina Moles, also known as Tina Lashley, 50, Redkey, was sentenced Thursday to 18 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $567,010 in restitution in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.

Judge James R. Sweeney II also sentenced Moles to three years of supervised release following her prison sentence.

Moles pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aiding and assisting the making of a false income tax return.

“Due to the defendant’s deceit, the United States lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in unjustified refunds,” said John E. Childress, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, in a press release. “Even more troubling, her unsuspecting customers faced the threat of audits and the repayment of thousands of dollars they wrongly received, all because they trusted her business practices. Filing or preparing false tax returns is a serious offense that deprives the government of vital revenue for public services, and today’s sentence serves as a strong warning to anyone considering engaging in such fraudulent activity.”

According to court documents, Moles falsified 382 federal income tax returns for clients without their knowledge from 2015 to 2021. Working as a tax return preparer, the documents say many of her customers received refunds between $5,000 and $10,000, despite having modest incomes.

The documents indicate that Moles falsely said her clients qualified for the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which is for qualified education expenses paid by eligible students for the first four years of higher education.

The credit can total $2,500 per year.

On the tax returns, the U.S. States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana says Moles claimed her clients incurred educational expenses at either Ivy Tech Community College or Penn Foster online college. However, none of the clients attended those schools.

“Christina Moles exploited a tax credit designed to ease the burden of higher education — twisting it into a tool for fraud,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge for IRS Criminal Investigation Ramsey E. Covington of the Chicago Field Office, in the release. “Her deceit didn’t just cheat the system; it undermined a benefit intended to help families invest in their futures. When trust is traded for profit, everyone pays the price.”

IRS Criminal Investigation and United States Postal Inspection Service investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Eakman prosecuted the case.