Colette Browne, a former employee of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, was scheduled Thursday to begin serving a 30-month sentence for defrauding the government of almost $100,000.
Browne was sentenced Monday by Superior Court Judge Adam Christian after pleading guilty to one count of a 10-count indictment. She was also required to make restitution in the amount of $97,156 and to pay $75 court costs. A $50,000 fine was suspended in light of the jail time and restitution amount. She was given 48 hours before she was to turns herself in to the Bureau of Corrections.
According to Sara Lezama, public information officer of the V.I. Department of Justice, the charge carries a max penalty of 15 years and a $500,000 fine. The prosecutors had recommended five to seven years incarceration, restitution and court costs.
According to court records, Browne, while employed by the bureau, "conducted and participated in, directly or indirectly, the affairs of the enterprise through a pattern of criminal activity to wit: Obtaining Money by False Pretense, in that while being employed with the V.I. Bureau of Internal Revenue Defendant knowingly and designedly by false or fraudulent representations or pretenses defrauded the Government of the Virgin Islands out of money in excess of one hundred dollars ($100) by engaging in a fraudulent scheme of producing numerous false tax returns in other persons names and collecting tax refund checks generated therefrom addressed to her post office box number, of which she was not entitled."
The other counts in the amended information involved similar activities from January 2003 through December 2008 while employed by the BIR.