District of Massachusetts

Boston - A Springfield tax preparer was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Springfield for filing fraudulent tax returns for her clients.

Yolanda Mercedes Perez Lopez, 51, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor to 18 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and $46,300 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service. In November 2012, Perez Lopez pleaded guilty to aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns, false statements to a federally insured financial institution, endeavoring to interfere with the administration of the internal revenue laws, false representation of United States citizenship, and false representation of a Social Security Number with intent to deceive.

Perez Lopez operated a tax preparation business in Springfield called Lopez Multiservice (LMS). Between February 2007 and April 2008, in order to obtain greater tax refunds for her customers than they were entitled to receive, Perez Lopez prepared numerous tax returns that she knew were fraudulent. Perez Lopez also corruptly endeavored to obstruct and impede the due administration of the Internal Revenue laws by making materially false statements to representatives of the IRS; providing false documentation for her customers to submit to the Massachusetts Department of Revenue; and counseling her customers to lie to representatives of the IRS.

In addition, in April 2009, Perez Lopez provided false and fraudulent financial information to a loan officer at National City Mortgage, a division of National City Bank, in connection with a residential mortgage application for a property located in Agawam, Mass. This information included a 2007 and 2008 tax return that stated substantially more income than the tax returns that she had previously filed with the IRS.

Further, in June 2009, Perez Lopez prepared an amended 2008 tax return that she knew was fraudulent, in that the tax return claimed a first-time homebuyer credit for the property in Agawam, despite the fact that Perez Lopez knew that the individual had already purchased a home which he continued to own and occupy as his primary residence.

Lastly, Perez Lopez is a national from the Dominican Republic who resided in the United States without a valid visa. To conceal her true identity, nationality, and immigration status, Perez Lopez used the name, date of birth, and Social Security Number of another person, who was a United States citizen and resident of Puerto Rico. Perez Lopez used this fraudulent identity to operate LMS, bank accounts, credit cards, insurance, and a Massachusetts driver=s license.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; William P. Offord, Special Agent In Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston; Bruce M. Foucart, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; Scott Antolik, Special Agent In Charge of the Office of Inspector General, Social Security Administration, Office of Investigations, Boston Field Division; and Cortez Richardson, Special Agent In Charge of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of the Inspector General, Boston Regional Office, made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven H. Breslow of Ortiz=s Springfield Branch Office.

Boston - A Hyannis man was sentenced yesterday for soliciting and recording underage girls engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Kevin McNicol, 24, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock to 15 years in prison to be followed by seven years of supervised release, including conditions prohibiting unsupervised contact with minors and unapproved Internet access for charges of the sexual exploitation of a child for the transmission of child pornography.

In March 2011, a website filed a cyber tip with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NMCEC). An online user of the website had uploaded an image of suspected child pornography, specifically an image depicting a minor Asian girl, approximately 10-years-old, engaged in simulated oral sex. Law enforcement traced this posting back to McNicol at his residence in Hyannis.

In May 2011, a search warrant was executed at McNicol’s address where law enforcement located child pornography on a computer. Specifically, investigators observed several video files that depicted minor females exposing their genitals and/or engaging in sexual acts.

Forensic analysis later revealed that McNicol recorded underage and adult females engaging in such acts via the Internet. McNicol engaged the girls in web chats, whereupon he would solicit them to expose their breasts, anus, and/or vagina and ultimately engage in sexually explicit conduct for his viewing and recording. Law enforcement recovered 92 such video files, the majority of which depicted as many as 78 underage females. At least nine videos, depicting approximately eight different young girls, clearly meet the legal definition of child pornography and the remainder constitute either child pornography or child erotica.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Kevin Niland, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, made the announcement today. The matter was investigated by the Massachusetts Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) including Massachusetts State Police, Barnstable Police Department, Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office, Yarmouth Police Department, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. In coordination with the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office, the case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael I. Yoon and Stacy Dawson Belf.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys' Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.

October 23, 2010

BOSTON – A former Springfield man was convicted yesterday by a jury in U.S. District Court in Springfield of illegally possessing a firearm and ammunition. 

Luis Colon, 30, was convicted following a four-day trial before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor of possessing a firearm and ammunition after being previously convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison.

On September 7, 2010, the defendant sold a Smith & Wesson 9mm pistol with 14 rounds of Remington 9mm ammunition to a man working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

Sentencing is scheduled for February 2, 2014.  Because Colon has multiple convictions that make him an armed career criminal, he faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison and five years of supervised release.  

            United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Hampden County District Attorney Mark Mastroianni; Daniel J. Kumor, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Boston Field Division; Colonel Timothy P. Alben, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; and Chief William Fitchett of the Springfield Police Department, made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven H. Breslow of Ortiz’s Springfield Branch Office.

Octuber 22, 2010

BOSTON – Keith Gage, 42, of Middleboro was indicted on two counts of coercion and enticement of a minor.

If convicted, Gage faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison, a mandatory minimum of five years supervised release on each of the charges, and a $250,000 fine.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Kevin Niland, Inspector in Charge of the  United States Postal Inspector Services; Colonel Timothy P. Alben of the Massachusetts State Police; and Chief Allan A. Krajcik of the Easton Police Department, made the announcement today.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Suzanne Sullivan Jacobus of Ortiz's Major Crimes Unit.

October 22, 2010

BOSTON - A Mattapan man was sentenced today for being a convicted felon in possession of a loaded .357 caliber revolver.

Terrance Moon, 46, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper to 220 months in prison and two years of supervised release.  In January 2013, Moon was convicted after trial of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.

When the Boston Police Department executed a search of Moon's apartment in Mattapan in February 2011, they found a loaded .357 revolver under his mattress.   Boston detectives also found crack cocaine, heroin, and other tools of the drug-dealing trade.  Moon qualified as an armed career criminal, having previously been convicted of several violent felonies, including armed robbery with a sawed-off shotgun, armed robbery with a cork screw, assault and battery on a police officer, and robbery of an undercover police officer.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; John J. Arvanitis, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, Boston Field Division; and Commissioner Edward Davis of the Boston Police Department, made the announcement today.  The case was prosecuted by Eric P. Christofferson and Robert E. Richardson of Ortiz’s Major Crimes Unit.