A Charlotte woman pleaded guilty Wednesday in Wake County District Court to tax charges filed by the North Carolina Department of Revenue.
Charisse Annette Ward, 44, of 5012 Shadyside Court, Charlotte, pleaded guilty on February 21, 2018 to two counts of Attempting to Evade or Defeat North Carolina Individual Income Tax.
Wake County District Court Judge Louis Meyer sentenced Ward to a six-month minimum, seventeen-month maximum prison term. The sentence was suspended and Ward was placed under electronic home monitoring for 30 days. Ward was also placed on supervised probation for 36 months, ordered to pay a $1,500.00 criminal fine and complete 100 hours of community service work. Ward paid $5,108.13 in restitution prior to the plea.
Information presented in court showed that Ward knowingly and willfully filed fraudulent 2014 and 2015 North Carolina Individual Income Tax Returns by falsely creating or overstating her business expenses, all in an attempt to evade or defeat the North Carolina Individual Income Tax.
The charges against Ward resulted from an investigation by special agents with the Department’s Criminal Investigations Section in Raleigh and was prosecuted by the Special Prosecutions attorneys in the office of the Attorney General.