A Union City woman has been sentenced to more than two years in prison and ordered to pay more than $200,000 in restitution for providing fraudulent W-2 forms to file false tax returns.

Beginning in January 2002 and continuing through August 2004, Marla Nicole Wells,38, conspired with others to electronically file tax returns for approximately 59 individuals, claiming refunds to which they were not entitled. The total losses amounted to $222,597. A dozen more fraudulent returns claiming a total of $60,504 in refunds were filed but never paid, as the investigation had uncovered the scheme and the Internal Revenue Service was able to stop the refund payments, according to U.S. Attorney David Nahmias.

Wells enlisted the assistance of recruiters to find people who were willing to file fraudulent tax returns, paying the recruiters a small fee. Once found, Wells provided the “filer” with a false W-2 that she created listing employers for whom the individuals filing the fraudulent tax returns had never worked, including her own full-time employer, BellSouth, according to Nahmias. To ensure that Wells got her fees plus a portion of the fraudulent refund, which could be as much as half of the refund, she directed them to seek refund anticipation loans on behalf of the filer, and occasionally accompanied the filer to the bank to get the money or held their identification until they returned to her with the money, Nahmias said. The “filers” were often indigent or had very low income. On at least one occasion, Wells deposited the fraudulently obtained refund anticipation loan proceeds into her own bank account. She used some of her ill-gotten gains to purchase a luxury Mercedes automobile, said Nahmias.

Wells was convicted in federal court June 27 and sentenced Sept. 26 to two years, six months in federal prison to be followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $222,597.