BANGOR, Maine — An Augusta woman who more than two years ago admitted in U.S. District Court that she fraudulently requested tax refunds using the identities of individuals she had helped obtain refunds through the state’s Circuit Breaker program was sentenced Thursday to five years and three months in federal prison.
In addition to prison time, Joann C. Rittall, 45, was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $219,065 to the U.S. Treasury and $19,896 to the state of Maine in restitution, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Rittall made claims for more than $435,000 in tax returns but not all of them were approved, according to court documents. She was ordered to reimburse what she was refunded illegally.
U.S. District Judge John Woodcock allowed Rittall, who has been free on personal recognizance bail since August 2013, to self-report to federal prison. The date she is to report was not available late Thursday.
Rittall pleaded guilty more than two years ago to one count each of making false claims against the government and identity theft, according to a previously published report. Rittall has major health problems stemming from her anorexia nervosa diagnosis, which has delayed sentencing, according to court documents.
By pleading guilty, Rittall admitted that in 2005, she obtained Social Security numbers for Maine residents she assisted in filing claims for refunds under Maine’s Residents Property Tax and Rent Refund Program, known as the Circuit Breaker program. Court documents do not say under what circumstances Rittall was helping taxpayers file for the refunds.
The purpose of the program, which provided nearly 90,000 refunds in 2011, is to help keep people in their homes and alleviate the disproportionate burden that high property taxes have on those with low incomes, according to a previously published report. It was repealed Aug. 1 and replaced by a “property tax fairness credit.”
Rittall filed electronic tax returns for 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 using the names and Social Security numbers of at least 25 people using falsified W-2 forms. She then set up bank accounts in their names so the refunds could be wired into the accounts, according to the prosecution version of events to which she pleaded guilty.
Court documents do not say how she spent the money.
Rittall faced up to 15 years in federal prison on the identity theft charge and five years on the making false claims charge. Under the prevailing federal sentencing guidelines, the recommended sentence was between five years and 10 months and seven years and three months.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Lowell said in his sentencing memorandum that although he would not recommend a guideline range sentence because of Rittall’s health problems, “a lengthy period of incarceration” was necessary to protect the public.
Federal Public Defender James Nixon said in his sentencing memorandum that any time behind bars would be “a death sentence” for Rittall because of her fragile health. He recommend a sentence of probation.