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Marion County Sheriff via AP
Krystle Marie Reyes, 25, is accused of tax evasion, theft, computer crime and methamphetamine possession.
PORTLAND, Ore. -- An Oregon woman was charged Wednesday with duping the state into giving her a $2.1 million tax refund that allowed her to go on a short-lived spending spree — an alleged scam that has prompted embarrassed state revenue officials to review how they process tax returns.
Krystle Reyes, 25, of Salem, filed an electronic return in January via Turbo Tax, reporting erroneous earnings of $3 million, authorities said. Her request for a $2.1 million refund was initially red-flagged by an automated system, but a subsequent manual review by Oregon revenue department workers OK'd the refund. Turbo Tax then loaded the full amount onto a debit card for Reyes.
Authorities say she spent $150,000 of the funds before reporting the card lost or stolen, at which point the ruse was discovered. The state has recovered roughly $1.9 million of the funds.
Reyes was arrested June 6, and now faces eight felony charges. In addition to tax evasion and theft charges, she is accused of computer crime and methamphetamine possession. She is scheduled to be arraigned on July 5.
Attempts by The Associated Press to reach Reyes, who is no longer in custody, have been unsuccessful and it was not clear if she has an attorney. Officials also have not released the allegedly falsified tax return because of confidentiality laws pertaining to tax matters.
Andrew Campbell, a senior assistant attorney general who filed the charges, has not responded to AP's requests for interviews.
A list of what Reyes purchased during the spending spree has not been provided, but police said video surveillance showed her swiping the debit card at various stores in the Salem area. Despite being a millionaire for a few months, Reyes paid $2,000 cash to buy a 1999 Dodge Caravan, the vehicle she had been seen driving in the month before her arrest.
'Human error'
The Revenue Department, which processes $7 billion in tax returns, is understaffed because of budget cuts and has an old computer system. But agency spokesman Derrick Gasperini said neither of those issues was to blame for what he described as a "human error."
The agency plans to release more details about its apparent blunder in the coming days, and how it plans to prevent a recurrence. There has been no evidence linking Reyes to anyone inside the agency, but officials want to make sure its internal controls limit the possibility of collusion.
"Catching this one, we all are concerned — here at the agency as well as the public — about 'is this part of a larger scheme, and who's involved in that larger scheme and does it involve anyone inside our walls?" Gasperini said.
State Sen. Ginny Burdick, D-Portland, the chairwoman of the Senate Revenue and Finance Committee, has said she plans to hold a hearing on the matter this summer.
"I'm not on a witch hunt, but I'm just very, very concerned that something this flagrant could have gotten through the process," she said. "We need to understand why it happened and what is going to be done differently."
State Rep. Vicki Berger, R-Salem, co-chair of the House Revenue Committee, told the Oregonian when Reyes was arrested that the revenue department "had some explaining to do."
"Is this is an anomaly? If so, let's make sure it never happens again," she said. "Or do we have a systematic problem in the way the Department of Revenue treats this and other transactions?"
Following the arrest, the agency reexamined the returns of 108 people who received a refund of at least $50,000 during the current processing season, and no new instances of fraud were uncovered.
According to the Oregonian, the state reported $559 million in delinquent taxes in 2010, primarily from unpaid personal and corporate income taxes.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
funny how the IRS is understaffed . and they cant take in tax money but they have plenty of people wacthing over people on or trying to get social security . they find every cent!!!
She's so much brighter than them, really they ought to hire her!
Yeah, they should hire her alright! As a human toilet brush in the state pen. The pig doesn't have to worry about being flushed down - she couldn't fit through the bowl opening, never mind the trap.
The idiots from the Oregon state tax dept who gave this woman a $2,100,000 tax return should be fired. Oops I forget they are civil servants and cannot be fired.
2.1M?? thats it? We have Polititions that spend that and more of our tax dollars on whores and walk free!!! The Mini van is frickin funny though!
hahahahahahhaah love your reply.
Throw 'em in jail. The Oregon Revenue workers.
ha no longer in custody .. the beaner ran back to mexico
I am betting she is one of many who have and continue to scam the government this way..........she could not have possibly thought this up by herself!! She should receive a harsh punishment,this way letting the others that practice this method of making a living know,they will suffer as well. Why are so many people compelled to cheat ? We all pay for these miserable pieces of garbage!
Probably trained by Racist LARAZA -- the taxpayer funded pro-illegal hispanic anti-american group.
R E C O N Q U I S T A -- is going as planned. Take a look at "Mexifornia".
Human error. Bull@!$%#. Plain incompetence.
Stupidity and laziness. 98% of government workers are lazy and incredibly stupid.
This is not human error, it is just plain stupidity and laziness.
It was red flagged and some moron approved it. Probably was in on it.
Who is the government worker that approved this?
This does not need to be kept secret, tell us who this idiot is and fire his or her ass.
No wonder we are in trouble. I would say their is some big explaining and consequences that need to be done. WOW unbelievable. She needs to go to prison. Why is she out of jail. I agree with someone else. She may be in Mexico. Why was NO BAIL SET and who had the money to get her out? State of Oregon has some explain to do. Maybe California needs to look into their returns as well. OUT OF CONTROL..
"We the People" need to stand up and protect what WE hard working/tax paying CITIZENS deserve and fight back AMERICA.
Fight back absolutely -- before it's too late -- whether the open border traitors in Washington help us or not.
( Arizona's illegal immigration laws expected to be UPHELD by the Supreme Court next week:)
Dang - she's UGLY. And at least we know she didn't use the money on plastic surgery!
um..wait. Are we sure she hasn't had work done, already? This arrest photo, may be an improvement from what she looked like, a year ago.
yeah Texas....you'd figure this slob would have had some plastic sugery and gastric bypass done.
Stupid is as stupid does, and she gets the blue ribbon..
Does the gassy wind-bag have kids?
A '99 Dodge Caravan?! HAHAHAHAHAHA......she really IS as stupid as she looks.
I bet all 150K was spent at a Taco Bell... By the way if you had 2.1 Mil. just put in your account how could you lose your debit card... must be the meth. ignorant c#nt
All that money at her fingertips, and she STILL looked like that when the police booked her???
Hmmmmmmmmmmm thats true lone star. One of my class mates in H.S. robbed a bank when we were like 9th and 10th graders. When the cops picked him up the next day he was clean. He had run straight to Penner's Mens Ware. Little inside KC joke.
Great come 'Merica, land of the free and wealthy
The state of Oregon obiviously needs to get rid of some political appointees! Send her to a Siberian prison camp!
They can go to the local taco shop to see how much her fat ass gobbled up before heading for the border ....adios el stupidos ........what a PIG
This was a state of Oregon tax refund....wonder if anyone is looking into her federal refund.
Her Federal return, if she bothered to file one, was probably flagged by the computer (similiar to what the computer in Oregon did) and a freeze was placed on her refund until the employment tax data files from every employer in the nation could be merged, checked for validity, and then matched against her return.
If she hurries up and pleads guilty to Federal tax charges she can have access to a library, job training seminars, and a golf course, all above and beyond what the State of Oregon prison system can offer.
If she's lucky she can then meet Rod Blagojavich, and when she's released she'll get a political appointment for a job at the Illinois Department of Revenue.
I smell inside job all over this! She claimed 3 mill in earnings and gets 2 mil back. Okaaaaaaaaaaaay? If her earnings / income was 3 mil how did over two-thirds of it end up with the government in the first place? Maybe she was supposed to turn the card over to someone at the Department of Rev. smart enough to make the computer pay such a obviously ridiculous scam. Instead she goes shopping. The inside man comes and snatches the card from her and says okay honey, shopping spree in canceled. She gets pissssssed, and reports the card stolen.
And yes the State Police release thieves like this so easily all the time. NOT!!!!!!! That chick is buried in the OR wilderness somewhere.
One does wonder why she bought such an old vehicle when she could have afforded a new vehicle, and how she was stupid enough to lose the pre-paid card, yet still smart enough to know how to scam the system.
Maybe she couldn't spend more money on a vehicle because the money was not ultimately hers?
Maybe the card was lost because the exchange was botched?
If she failed to run the scam on the Feds/IRS, it would be indicative that something special was going on scamming the State of Oregon.
Be interesting to know if she's going to play, "Let's Make a Deal" with the prosecution, trading information for a reduced sentence.
Looks like she spent most of the money on food. I thought Snookie was already making good money by being a stupid whore.
looks like the oinker spent most of it on food. but let's remember folks it's not all her fault, where are the checks and balances the government are supposed to have in place to prevent this knod'a thing in the 1st place ?
What a moron! She gets away with it...has all that money on a card and she can't find it? Reports it LOST? It's probably in one of her fat rolls or buried in the couch....she COULD have gotten away with it!!!
lol, yea, what a moron......
Yet she still knew more about how the system works than 99% of the people posting a reply to this story.
So, how dumb is she really?
Or is she working the scheme as a front for somebody?
Was the card "lost" or did something go wrong with the exchange?
ROFLMFAO I blame the idiots that gave her the money. I never knew it was that easy. I wonder how many have gotten away with it? She must have learned it from somewhere, anyhows that book should be on the best sellers list. I can imagine the internal blame game the IRS is so famous for. (Thats not my department let me connect you to someone, (pause, music) )
Our government workers doing what they do best, a bad job, getting overpaid for their worthlessness, and being their usual incompetent selves. They can be even fooled by a ignorant fat slob, which by the way are extremely common in the self entitlement area of Portland.
Note to article author: Please don't insult women by calling that thing a woman.
hahaha! Good point!
Well, to Jabba the Hut she is.
why is she the only one that went to jail. the person in charge of her paperwork tha ok'd the check to her should also have been sent to jail. anyone that stupid to think someone is getting that size of a refund is the real idiot. the scammer girl is pretty smart to have gotten away with it while she did. of course we know it was a matter of time when she would have gotten caught. think before you act.
That absolutely does it! I'm moving to Oregon! No more need be said, I'm moving! I thought I was in a negative state but, this is just.................Is this Heaven? Naw.......It's Oregon!
LMAO!
you took the words from mt thoughts.