Date: March 22, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Charlotte, NC — Stephanie L. Roberts of Gastonia, N.C., pleaded guilty today to stealing thousands of dollars from a non-profit corporation for cancer patients, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. U.S. Attorney King is joined by Donald “Trey” Eakins, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (CI), Charlotte Field Office (IRS-CI), Tommy D. Coke, Inspector in Charge of the Atlanta Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which oversees Charlotte, and Chief Trent Conard of the Gastonia Police Department in making today’s announcement. According to court documents, Roberts served as the executive director of a Gastonia non-profit corporation that provides support and resources for cancer patients. Beginning no later than Jan. 8, 2016, through Jan. 21, 2022, Roberts embezzled more than $136,000 from the non-profit corporation. In addition, Roberts admitted in court today that she failed to pay more than $200,000 withheld from the paychecks of the non-profit corporation’s employees for federal income, Medicare and Social Security taxes to the IRS. Lastly, Roberts made and subscribed under penalty of perjury U.S. Income Tax Returns in which she falsely stated the amount of tax withheld from her wages and claimed that amount was paid to the IRS. Roberts pleaded guilty to theft in connection with health care, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; failure to truthfully account for and pay over trust fund taxes, which carries a statutory sentence of no more than five years in prison; and making and subscribing a false tax return, which carries a penalty of up to three years in prison. According to the terms of Roberts’ plea agreement, she will be required to pay full restitution to the non-profit corporation. Also, at sentencing, Roberts will be subject to additional court fines and a forfeiture money judgement. A federal judge will determine the actual sentence at a hearing not yet scheduled. In making today’s announcement, U.S. Attorney King commended CI, USPIS, and the Gastonia Police Department for their investigation of the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael E. Savage of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte is prosecuting the case. 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.222024-
