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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
March 19, 2024

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4 arrested in tax scheme targeting Wash. inmates

The Columbian
Published:

SEATTLE (AP) — Four people have been arrested on charges they claimed false tax returns in the names of Washington state prison inmates.

Federal prosecutors say Kenneth Randle Door was the leader of the conspiracy. Door was himself an inmate at the Walla Walla state penitentiary, and investigators say he teamed up with three people on the outside to file false tax returns using the names and Social Security numbers of other prisoners.

The defendants are accused of fabricating W-2 forms for recently bankrupt companies claiming that the prisoners had worked there. Prosecutors say the four filed at least 31 false tax returns, and they obtained $72,000 in fraudulent refunds.

Door is separately facing an indictment charging him with being a felon in possession of a firearm. The other defendants are Lucy Anne Hyder, Ruth Louise Branstetter and Richard Shane Wright.

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