ARIZONA WOMAN CHARGED WITH FIVE COUNTS OF FRAUDULENT CLAIMS FOR TAX CREDIT
 

MADISON - Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced that on Monday November 10, 2008, attorneys for the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ), acting as special prosecutors for Dane County, filed a criminal complaint in Dane County Circuit Court against Susanna R. Terrell of El Mirage, Arizona. The complaint alleges 5 counts of Fraudulent Claims for Tax Credit. The allegations are felony charges that carry a maximum penalty of fines of $10,000 and 6 years imprisonment for each count. Terrell's initial appearance is scheduled for November 20, 2008.

The criminal complaint alleges that Terrell began filing fraudulent claims for Wisconsin Homestead tax credits after she moved from Wisconsin to Arizona in 2006. It is alleged that over the course of three years, Terrell filed as many as 139 fraudulent claims totaling $133,292 using names and social security numbers of Arizona residents, some of whom she had contact with through the course of her employment at a check cashing store.

In 2000, Terrell was convicted in Milwaukee County of two counts of Misappropriation of Personal ID and two counts of Fraudulent Claims for Tax Credit for filing fraudulent Homestead credit claims. As a result of the 2000 convictions, Terrell was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment on two of the counts and 5 years of probation on the other counts. Her probation was terminated in September 2005.

A criminal complaint is a document alleging violation of the criminal law and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Assistant Attorney General David W. Maas is representing the state.