Escambia County Woman Pleads Guilty To Preparing 20 False Tax Returns

November 21, 2025

An Escambia County woman has pleaded guilty federal charges for a fraudulent tax return scheme.

Khristine N. Harper, 42, pled guilty in federal court to 20 counts of aiding and assisting the preparation of false tax returns and one count of identity theft.

“I applaud the excellent investigative work by our federal law enforcement partners to identify and dismantle this offender’s sophisticated fraud scheme,”  said United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida John P. Heekin. Defrauding the federal government victimizes every tax paying citizen, and my office will aggressively pursue criminal prosecutions of fraudsters to ensure they are held accountable to the full extent of the law for their crimes.”

Court documents reflect that between 2018 and 2024, Harper routinely prepared and filed fraudulent income tax returns for her clients by listing false amounts for various deductions, credits, and other items that were never provided to her by those clients. After Harper became aware in July 2023 that the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation was investigating her, she changed the name of her tax preparation business from Kings Tax Service to Echelon Tax. She also obtained a Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) in another person’s name without permission and filed her clients’ 2023 returns using that fraudulently obtained PTIN. For just the 20 specific returns listed in the indictment that were the basis of the counts to which Harper pled guilty, Harper caused over $103,000 in tax loss to the Internal Revenue Service.

Sentencing is currently set for December 17 at the United States Courthouse in Pensacola before United States District Judge M. Casey Rodgers.

If convicted, she faces up to 65 years’ imprisonment.

The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Comments

One Response to “Escambia County Woman Pleads Guilty To Preparing 20 False Tax Returns”

  1. Susie on November 21st, 2025 9:50 am

    She had full intent to defraud for her personal benefit. Hopefully, the Judge will see that, as well. Greed is a sickness.





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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News