Grandview woman indicted on 39 counts of tax fraud. It’s not her first time, feds say
After pleading guilty to disability benefit fraud last year, a Grandview woman and former IRS employee was indicted again in federal court Tuesday — this time for filing fraudulent tax returns on behalf of others.
Sandra D. Mondaine, 64, is accused of illegally claiming more than $200,000 in fraudulent tax returns for at least 11 clients, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri.
The fraud took place between tax years 2018 and 2021 and included 39 false or fraudulent reports, according to court records. Mondaine, now retired, had worked as a contact representative for the IRS at the time.
Mondaine had also been receiving disability benefits from the Social Security Administration since 2007, despite being employed by the IRS, according to court documents.
Mondaine generated large tax returns for her clients that would not have been given out by the IRS if she had filed their taxes truthfully, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. She falsified documents including residential energy credits and capital gains, a tax on the profit one makes from selling stock shares or similar investments.
The total loss associated with all 39 returns came out to $237,329 in missing taxes.
A federal grand jury in Kansas City indicted Mondaine on all 39 counts of fraud.
Under the False Claims Act, Mondaine could be held liable for up to three times the amount of money she stole, plus a cash penalty that rises with inflation.
Tuesday’s indictment isn’t the first time Mondaine has been charged with stealing more than $200,000 from the government. Mondaine was charged on Sept. 11, 2023 with fraudulently receiving disability benefits.
Court documents show that she fudged her own tax returns from 2007 to 2016, claiming to earn extra income as a babysitter.
Mondaine said she had hired her two sons as paid employees, according to court documents. This was impossible, according to federal investigators, as both were incarcerated for most of the period from 2007 to 2016.
Additionally, one of Mondaine’s sons — Clayton Lewis Jr., 46 — is disabled and under Mondaine’s conservatorship, according to court records.
Court documents also indicate the children Mondaine claimed to be paid to babysit were actually her grandchildren.
Mondaine pleaded guilty to felony theft in September 2023 and was found guilty on April 2, 2024.
She was sentenced to five years’ probation and ordered to pay just over $209,000 to the Social Security Administration.
Mondaine has filed for bankruptcy twice, according to court records.
This story was originally published June 12, 2024 at 8:57 PM.
