Former Jacksonville Man Sentenced To Federal Prison For Filing False Tax Returns

By Benjamin Cox on July 20, 2021 at 6:14am

A former Jacksonville man is heading to federal prison for filing false tax returns.

38 year old West K. Mpetshi was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison on Friday, followed by one year of mandatory supervised release. At Mpetshi’s sentencing hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Sue Myerscough found that Mpetshi, after immigrating to the U.S. From the Democratic Republic of Congo, engaged in a scheme to defraud the IRS of hundreds of thousands of dollars as a tax preparer by claiming false moving expenses and educational credits for himself and others on federal income tax returns.

Mpetshi, who was able to speak and write in English, prepared tax returns for other immigrants of the Democratic Republic of Congo living in the Jacksonville area who could not read or write in English.

Mpetshi was convicted of 30 counts of of tax fraud after a 2-week jury trial, also was ordered to pay restitution to the IRS in an amount just over $86,000 and court costs for the case totaling over $74,000. Prior to sentencing, Mpetshi has resided in Kirksville, Missouri. He is presently on bond prior to reporting to the Bureau of Prisons to begin serving his sentence.