Hearing scheduled for former tax preparer

A 9 a.m. Wednesday hearing is scheduled for Carrie Ann Shafer, 37, Oronogo, on two misdemeanor bad check charges. The charge dates back to checks written Sept. 24, 2004, and March 16, 2005, according to court records.
The hearing was originally scheduled for Dec. 28, but was postponed when Ms. Shafer failed to show. She appeared in court the next day after a warrant had been issued.
Ms. Shafer, you may recall was the subject of a federal investigation which determined she had been preparing fraudulent income tax returns. Judge Gary Fenner ordered her out of the tax preparation business.
Judge Fenner issued his order that Ms. Shafer stop preparing tax returns after U. S. Attorney Todd Graves submitted documents indicating she had claimed "fictitious or inflated itemized deductions for various expenses, including medical and dental expenses, charitable contributions, and unreimbursed employee business expenses."
Graves said that with one customer Ms. Shafer claimed "an inflated child-care expense credit based on child-care services that Shafer knew had never actually been provided to, or paid for by, the customer."
Graves also said Ms. Shafer had encouraged one of her clients to lie to the Internal Revenue Service.