Roswell Daily Record Vol. 124, No. 61 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
March 12, 2015
www.rdrnews.com
THURSDAY
Tax preparer charged with fraud, racketeering
Staff Report
SANTA FE — A Roswell tax preparer has been charged with dozens of counts of tax fraud and racketeering for allegedly fraudulently preparing tax returns for 28 individuals from 2011 to 2014. Sylvia Franco, 45, of Roswell, owned and operated Sylvia Tax Service, where she allegedly prepared tax returns with fraudulent, inflated tax deductions, the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department reported Wednesday. Franco is charged with 50 counts of tax fraud, 28
counts of fraud, and one count of racketeering. By fraudulently inflating tax deductions, Franco purportedly ensured her clients would receive larger refunds and cheated the state of New Mexico out of $120,493 in taxes owed, according to the state revenue department. Franco was being held Wednesday at the Chaves County Detention Center on a $25,000 cash-only bond. She is scheduled for a preliminary examination at 8:30 a.m. on March 18 before Chaves County Magistrate Judge K.C. Rogers.
Arrest and search warrants were issued on Friday, and Franco was taken into custody by the Roswell Police Department. She was arraigned Monday before Magistrate Judge John Halvorson in Roswell. No criminal charges are planned at this time against any of Franco’s clients, said Robert McEntyre, a spokesman for New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department. In May 2013, Franco pleaded no contest in Fifth Judicial District Court in Roswell to failure to enforce compulsory school attendance, according to
the New Mexico Courts case lookup website. From 2002 to 2007, Franco was a defendant in several civil cases brought to the courts by lending institutions for failure to pay debts. “Tax defrauders will be aggressively pursued in New Mexico,” said Demesia Padilla, secretary for the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department. “Tax preparers have no place to fraudulently operate in our state and we hope this sends a strong message to those seeking to defraud the citizens and state of New Mexico.” The case was investigat-
SGMS students win C-SPAN competition
ed by the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department’s Tax Fraud Investigations Division. Criminal Investigator Candice Molina worked with the Fifth Judicial District Attorney Janetta Hicks and the RPD to file the charges. Brian Watson, a public information officer for the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division in Tucson, Ariz., said Wednesday there are no records of Franco being charged or investigated by the IRS. The New Mexico Department of Taxation and Revenue welcomes any tip of
Franco suspected tax fraud. A 24-hour fraud hotline, 866457-6789, is available to report any suspected violations.
Right-to-work, minimum wage
bill blocked, dies
By Jeff Tucker Record Staff Writer
A top priority bill of New Mexico Republicans that would have given workers the right to choose whether to join a union or not, while also raising the state’s minimum wage by 50 cents, has been blocked by Senate Democrats and appears dead for the 2015 state legislative session. The right-to-work bill was tabled by the Senate Public Affairs Committee Tuesday in a 5-3, party-line vote. Committee Chairman Gerald Ortiz y Pino and fellow Democrats Bill O’Neill,
Max Scally Photos
Above: Eighth-grade students get a look inside the C-SPAN bus Wednesday while Sara Zou, C-SPAN marketing representative, works the camera. Right: Three Sidney Gutierrez Middle School eighth graders were winners in the national C-SPAN StudentCam competition for their six-minute documentary on immigration. A C-SPAN bus arrived at the school around 8:30 a.m. and the video was shown during a school assembly. C-SPAN’s annual national video documentary competition encourages students to think critically about issues that affect their communities and the nation.
Federal income tax refunds totaling $1 billion may be waiting for an estimated one million taxpayers who did not file a federal income tax return for 2011, the Internal Revenue Service announced Wednesday. To collect the money, these taxpayers must file a 2011 tax return with the IRS no later than Wednesday, April 15. “Time is running out for people who didn’t file a 2011 federal income tax return to claim their refund,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “People could be missing out on a substantial refund, especially students or part-time workers. Some
See BILL, Page A3
Oil, gas bills show views of parties
SGMS is a charter school founded in 2001, serving grades six through eight. All of the eighth-grade students competed in C-SPAN’s competition.
IRS: 8,500 may have $7.7 million in 2011 tax refunds waiting
Submitted by IRS
Jacob Candelaria, Daniel Ivey-Soto and Mimi Stewart, all of Albuquerque, voted to table the bill. Republican committee members Gay Kernan, of Hobbs, Ron Griggs, of Alamogordo, and Craig Brandt, of Rio Rancho, voted not to table the bill. The original bill, House Bill 75, that would prohibit requiring workers to pay union fees as a condition of employment was amended by the House Judiciary Committee last month to include a 50-cent-per-hour minimum wage increase to $8 an hour. The minimum
people may not have filed because they didn’t make much money, but they may still be entitled to a refund.” The IRS estimates half of the potential refunds for 2011 are more than $698. For New Mexico, that amount is estimated to be $688. In cases where a tax return was not filed, the law provides most taxpayers with a three-year window of opportunity for claiming a refund. For 2011 tax returns, the window closes on April 15. If no return is filed to claim a refund within three years, the money becomes property of the U.S. Treasury. See REFUNDS, Page A3
From left, Christina Chaves, Maryann Romero and Joel Hagaman, immigration attorneys from Albuquerque who were featured in the film, with student film winners
Tori Price, Taylor Fitts and Hannah Bejarano, who are students of Leslie Lawner. At far right is Zou, C-SPAN marketing representative.
SANTA FE (AP) — Dueling New Mexico House and Senate moves Tuesday highlight a brewing partisan battle over the authority of counties to regulate oil and gas development. The GOP-controlled House passed a measure Tuesday on a 37-28 vote that would limit local control of such development, the Santa Fe New Mexican reports. The bill also gives the state Oil Conservation Division and Oil Conservation Commission exclusive authority to regulate oil
and gas extraction. Sponsor Rep. Nate Gentry, R-Albuquerque, said the bill doesn’t take away the county’s authority over noise and some zoning issues. However, critics say the measure is overreaching and would weaken the local zoning authority of county governments. The bill goes next to the Senate. Meanwhile, the Democratic-controlled Senate Conservation CommitSee PARTIES, Page A2
Police seeking man who had gun during Verizon store robbery Staff Report
Police are looking for a man who carried out an armed robbery around noon Wednesday at the Verizon store on West Second Street in downtown Roswell. The robbery occurred about a block from the Roswell Police Department headquarters. There is no surveillance video available, a police spokesman said. Investigators are looking for a white male, likely in his 20s, about 6 feet tall and slender, with short brown hair. During the robbery, he wore a white shirt and blue-jean shorts. He
Timothy P. Howsare Photo
The Verizon store in downtown Roswell was robbed around noon Wednesday by a man who brandished a firearm but did not point it at any of the store employees. A yet-to-bedetermined amount of cash was stolen. carried a black backpack. He left the store with a yet-to-be-determined amount of money from the store’s cash
Today’s Forecast
Today’s Obituaries Page A6
HIGH 69 LOW 39
• K’dyn Ross Brewer • Joanne Freas Gottlieb • Rev. Edward Lee
registers. According to the store employees, the man entered the store and lifted his shirt to show
a gun in his waistband area. At some point during the robbery, the man removed the gun from his waistband and held it at his side but did not point it at anyone. A police search of the area immediately following the robbery failed to locate the suspect. Anyone with information that could help identify and locate the suspect in this case is asked to call the Roswell Police Department at 575-624-6770 or Chaves County Crime Stoppers at 888-594-TIPS(8477).
Index Classifieds...........B5 Comics..................B4 Entertainment. ....B3 Financial..............B3
General...............A2 Horoscopes.........B3 Lotteries. ............A2 Opinion.................A4
Sports. ................B1 Weather...............A8 World..................A6