Date: Aug. 28, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Tulsa, OK — Today, U.S. District Judge Gregory K. Frizzell sentenced Katrenia Hartman, of Sand Springs, for bank fraud and willfully making and subscribing a false federal income tax return. Judge Frizzell ordered Hartman to be imprisoned for 30 months, followed by 5 years of supervised release. Additionally, Hartman is ordered to pay the IRS more than $177k in restitution and more than $735k to the church she defrauded. According to court documents, Hartman was a church office manager for more than 16 years. She was entrusted with various duties, including payroll, church bills, and bank deposits. In 2016, Hartman began abusing the trust bestowed upon her. As an authorized signatory, Hartman would sign checks she made out to herself and forge the additional signature needed. Hartman then tried to conceal her tracks by entering false descriptions into the church’s bookkeeping system. While Hartman was receiving the fraudulent funds, she failed to report the increase in her income to the IRS. She also claimed more than $78k in fake medical and dental expenses in order to reduce her tax liability. Hartman was permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. IRS - Criminal Investigations (CI), the U.S. Secret Service and Tulsa Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney David D. Whipple prosecuted it. CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
