A Harnett County Woman Guilty in State Tax Case

RALEIGH – A Lillington woman pleaded guilty Monday in Wake County District Court to charges filed by the North Carolina Department of Revenue.

Eliza Christine Gunn, 40, of 111 Del Toro Lane, Lillington pleaded guilty on March 10, 2014 to two counts of Obtaining Property by False Pretenses and two counts of Uttering Forged Instrument.

District Court Judge Margaret Eagles sentenced Gunn to a six-month minimum, eight-month maximum prison term. The sentence was suspended and Gunn was placed on supervised probation for 36 months. She will be transferred to unsupervised probation after one year and payment of $1,521.00 in restitution. Gunn was given credit for 57 days served in custody.

Information presented in court showed that Gunn filed 2008 and 2009 North Carolina individual income tax returns representing that she had North Carolina income taxes withheld from her wages by multiple employers, when in fact she was not employed by the businesses and did not have the taxes withheld. The returns caused the Department of Revenue to give her credit for payment of individual income tax withholdings that she was not entitled to receive. Gunn’s Uttering Forged Instrument charges resulted from false 2008 and 2009 Wage and Tax Statements.

The charges against Gunn resulted from an investigation by a special agent with the Department’s Criminal Investigations Section in Raleigh.