The family that commits tax fraud together stays together.
I know, it’s hardly the sort of thing you expect to see embroidered on a throw pillow. But prosecutors allege that when it comes to crime, the Mucsarneys indeed kept it in the family.
Authorities allege that Jaquon Mucsarney devised a scheme to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The scheme, which began in January 2011 and continued through December 2015, involved the filing of numerous false tax returns to secure bogus refunds. To further the scheme, Jaquon sought help: one of Jaquon’s partners in crime turned out to be his mother, Schosche Mucsarney.
Jaquon’s foray into tax fraud wasn’t the first time he had been in trouble with authorities. Or even the second. He had previously been sentenced to prison in 2005 for drugging a victim. He was also convicted in 2013 on charges related to an escape and was sentenced to additional years in prison. As a result, Jaquon spent a bit of time behind bars – which is exactly where authorities allege he directed his mother to commit tax fraud.
According to court documents, Jaquon called his mother from jail and told her just what he needed her to do in order to further his scheme, including creating a number of fictitious companies. The companies had no employees, no income, and no business purpose: they were simply shell companies. Jaquon also ordered Schosche to set up bank accounts for the fake companies, which she did. After creating the fake companies, Schosche and Jaquon submitted about 100 tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) claiming bogus refunds in excess of $2,000,000; to do this, Schosche and Jaquon sometimes used stolen taxpayer identification numbers including Social Security Numbers and Employer Identification Numbers (EINs). The IRS paid out about $300,000 in bogus refunds, mailed to addresses controlled by or connected to Schosche and Jaquon’s girlfriend, Sherry Charleston, before the scheme was discovered.
Ultimately, Jaquon, Schosche, and Jaquon’s girlfriend, Sherry, were indicted by a federal grand jury. Jaquon was charged with 18 counts of mail fraud, one count of conspiracy to defraud the government, 19 counts of false claims, 12 counts of aggravated identity theft and one count of obstruction of justice.
Jaquon’s girlfriend, Sherry, was charged with 4 counts of mail fraud, one count of conspiracy to defraud the government, 7 counts of false claims, one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of obstruction of justice; the obstruction charge is the result of false and misleading information given by Sherry to an IRS Special Agent investigating Jaquon’s activities when, acting on advice from Jaquon, Sherry intentionally failed to show up to testify before a federal grand jury.
For her part in the scheme, Schosche was charged with 6 counts of mail fraud, one count of conspiracy to defraud the government, and three counts of false claims. In July of 2016, Schosche pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge. In November of 2016, Schosche learned her punishment: five years of probation and $195,902 in restitution. Judge Marcia Krieger, who found that Schosche’s son “manipulated her into criminal behavior” did not sentence Schosche to prison or home detention, noting that Schosche had no other criminal record. However, as a condition of her probation, Schosche is prohibited from having contact with any convicted felon, including her son, Jaquon; to make sure this happens, Schosche must, as a requirement of her probation, block all cell phone calls from her son.
Earlier this year, Jaquon’s girlfriend, Sherry Charleston, also entered into a plea agreement. She is scheduled to be sentenced on January 4, 2017.
As for Jaquon? He has yet to go to trial. After months of legal maneuvering, including dismissing his attorneys and filing a motion to determine whether he was competent to stand trial, his case remains pending. If convicted, he faces a lengthy sentence. Mail fraud carries a penalty of up to 20 years in federal prison; conspiracy to defraud the government carries a penalty of up to 10 years in federal prison; false claims carry a penalty of up to than 5 years in federal prison; aggravated identity theft carries a penalty of 2 years imprisonment minimum consecutive to underlying felony; and obstruction of justice carries a penalty of up to 3 years in federal prison. Each of the charges also carries a hefty sentence. Of course, all of that should pale next to knowing that he nearly sent his mom to jail.