Scenes from the KC Fringe Festival
Category: Kansas City Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri, woman sentenced to 34 months in prison for using stolen identities to file false tax returns
A Kansas City, Missouri, woman was sentenced to prison today for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft related to the filing of false tax returns, according to federal officials.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Stephen R. McAllister for the District of Kansas sent out a news release about the decision.
U.S. District Court Judge Carlos Murguia of the federal court in Kansas City, Kansas, sentenced Antoinette Winston, also known as Tweety, to 34 months in prison and ordered her to pay $165,392.48 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). On Aug. 21, 2018, Winston pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
According to documents filed with the court, from 2012 to May 2015, Winston stole and used personal identifying information, including names and social security numbers of other individuals in order to file fraudulent income tax returns requesting refunds from the IRS.
Winston also used this information to obtain pre-paid debit cards in the names of these individuals, and directed the IRS to pay the fraudulent refunds to these pre-paid debit cards. After the IRS deposited the refunds on the pre-paid debit cards, Winston used the cards to withdraw cash at banks and retail stores. The intended tax loss to the IRS from Winston’s scheme was more than $250,000.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and U.S. Attorney McAllister commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Rask and Assistant Chief Matthew J. Kluge of the Tax Division, who prosecuted the case.
Fringe Festival to begin July 14
Opinion
by William Crum
An annual event is soon to happen in Kansas City, Missouri. The event I am referring to is called the Fringe Festival.
What would the summer months be without the Fringe Festival? In fact, a lot of people from Kansas City, Kansas, and Wyandotte County attend, volunteer or perform at this festival.
Some of those who join the Fringe Festival are State Sen. David Haley, D-4th Dist., not to mention other citizens from Kansas City, Kansas, and Wyandotte County who volunteer to help make the Fringe Festival a success. They have various performances at different venues in Kansas City, Missouri.
The performances are unique, everything from dance to comedy. This year should be even bigger and better. This is the 15th year here for the Kansas City Fringe Festival. How it works is simply this. You can go down to the Fringe headquarters, located at Kansas City Union Station, or go online at https://kcfringe.org/.
The second step is to get a schedule, buy a button which provides access to Fringe events. The ticket prices are $10 for each event and can be purchased at the venues 30 minutes prior to Showtime, in advance or on the website KC fringe.org, or at Union Station, Fringe 411 at the Union Station. Ticket prices for children 6 to 12 are $5. And for those of us who like a real bargain at Fringe 411 they also sell shareable punch passes worth $100 for only $90. They accept MasterCard and Visa.
If you want to find out what the Fringe Festival is, you’re cordially invited to the kickoff party held at 6 p.m. July 18 at the Haverty Family Yards behind the Union Station.
It has been talked about in the past that Kansas City, Kansas, and Wyandotte County are being looked at for future Fringe events, that as of now there is nothing.
In the past I’ve covered the Fringe Festival and I personally find it to be totally amazing to say the least. I’m totally recommending the Kansas City Fringe Festival. See for yourself, you can do this by going to the kickoff party at 6 p.m. July 18.