SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - A Springfield man has become the 13th person to plead guilty in a tax fraud scheme.
Federal prosecutors say 30-year-old Travis L. Ashmead pleaded guilty Wednesday to making a false and fraudulent income tax return.
A co-defendant, 43-year-old Cherie Dupuis of Springfield, pleaded guilty in July to leading the scheme. She admitted that she and her co-conspirators filed fraudulent income tax refunds between 2009 and 2012.
Prosecutors say about $336,839 of the more than $340,000 claimed in the refunds was false. The actual tax loss to the IRS was about $284,000.
Ashmead is the final defendant to plead guilty among 13 co-defendants.
He faces up to five years in federal prison without parole, as well as a $250,000 fine and an order of restitution.