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Friday, April 19, 2024
News Crime

Tax-preparer gets 18 months in prison for falsifying tax returns

By  Sun-Times Wire
   
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Gerrie Cokenour | Will County sheriff’s office

A southwest suburban tax-preparer has been sentenced to a year and a half in prison after pleading guilty to falsifying data on tax returns.

U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve sentenced 42-year-old Gerrie Cokenour on Monday to 18 months in prison after Cokenour pleaded guilty in March to filing false tax returns.

Cokenour and another woman were accused of preparing 764 state income-tax returns that included inflated property-tax data and other fraudulent deductions while working for Cokenour’s company, Tax Advocators, Inc. The falsified returns cost the state more than $400,000, according to prosecutors.

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