Aug 11, 2008 3:10 pm US/Pacific
Owner Of Health Care Service Guilty Of Tax Fraud
LOS ANGELES
The owner of several home health care service providers was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison for failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars on her federal income tax returns.
Maria Cecilia Sy Chico, 44, of Tujunga, was ordered by U.S. District Judge Manuel Real to surrender by Sept. 22 to begin serving her term.
Chico, who was convicted in April of filing a false tax return, owned and operated Helping Hands Health Care from 2000 to 2004, as well as three other health care-related businesses.
She failed to report about $220,000 in income for 2000 and $87,000 in 2001, prosecutors said.
Harland Braun, Chico's attorney, said his client's tax problems stemmed in part from her "huge gambling habit."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Bowman said Chico earned $5 million in 2004 and 2005, but only reported $2,000 in liquid assets to tax authorities.
Chico and co-defendant Marites Tolentino, 55, also of Tujunga, were accused of diverting about $135,000 from one of Chico's companies by claiming the money was a loan from Tolentino's son.
Subsequent repayments totaling about $141,000, ostensibly made to Tolentino's son, were deposited to Chico and Tolentino's bank account, prosecutors said.
Tolentino, an accountant with a prior insurance fraud conviction, pleaded guilty in January to filing a false tax return. She did not testify at Chico's trial.
Tolentino was sentenced to five years in federal prison and ordered to perform 1,200 hours of community service.
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