A Winter Haven tax preparer is headed to federal prison for six years and six months, after a Tampa judge sentenced him today for a refund scheme built on fake gambling winnings. Court filings say the operation ran from January 2023 through February 2024 and leaned on nearly 100 bogus returns. Investigators say the IRS paid out roughly $1.64 million in refunds that never should have gone out. The defendant must forfeit his fees and repay the government.
Six-and-a-half years, nearly 100 fake returns
In a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, prosecutors say U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday handed down the sentence for Timothy Smith, who pleaded guilty on Sept. 26, 2025. Smith admitted that he prepared or helped prepare 97 false and fraudulent returns for 92 taxpayers. According to the release, those filings triggered $1,637,829.64 in IRS refunds or credits, and Smith personally took in about $274,000 in profits. The court ordered that money forfeited and directed Smith to pay restitution to the IRS.
One player in a bigger refund ring
Federal prosecutors cast Smith as the fourth conviction in a wider scheme that they say aimed to skim more than $17 million from the Treasury. The same federal release lists earlier defendants, identified as Jeffrey Dixon, Sean Laster and George Tucker, whose combined sentences and restitution orders stretch into the tens of millions of dollars. Investigators, quoted in the release, said, “These defendants orchestrated a deliberate scheme to steal from American taxpayers.”
How the scam worked, according to investigators
Prosecutors say the group relied on fabricated Forms W-2G and phony withholding entries to manufacture tax refunds that clients were not actually owed. IRS Criminal Investigation led the probe, and IRS-CI noted that Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ross Roberts and Jennifer Peresie in the Middle District of Florida handled the prosecutions.
Federal officials say the prison terms, forfeitures and restitution orders are aimed at clawing back ill-gotten gains and sending a message to would-be tax cheats. Local reporting on the sentencing and case details was provided by the Tampa Free Press.
