2 Bowie residents charged in multi-million-dollar tax scheme By JANE MCHUGH Staff Writer
New court papers filed in the District of Columbia property tax scheme describe how two Bowie residents charged in the case allegedly committed bank fraud so they could buy millions of dollars worth of luxury cars and designer clothes.
The papers allege the scam went on for more than six years, three years longer than investigators first thought when they entered suspects' homes Nov. 7 with 5 a.m. raids.
The alleged scam pivoted around Harriette Walters, in charge of property tax rebates for the D.C. government. Her brother, Richard Walters of Spark Lane, and another Bowie resident, Jayrece Turnbull of Bermondsey Drive, were also involved, the U.S. Attorney's offices in Greenbelt and Washington claim. Turnbull is the niece of Harriette Walters and had no employment history, court papers said.
Harriette Walters allegedly issued at least $20 million worth of fake property tax refund checks to herself and co-conspirators, including her brother and Turnbull. Some of the checks were deposited into a Bowie-based Helmet Plumbing bank account owned by her brother but most went into accounts controlled by Turnbull, a new FBI affidavit said.
The affidavit gives an example of how in March 2006 the suspects in the case, who include seven other people besides those noted, made deposits and withdrawals from different bank accounts in their names and in the names of real or fake businesses they ran with the goal of buying high-end goods.
Richard Walters wired $30,000 from his personal bank account to a car dealership in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The money was used to buy a 2007 Ford Sport Trac for Harriette Walter's sister-in-law who lived there and is now deceased. At least $18,700 of the $30,000 came from Harriette Walters, according to the affidavit.
Harriette Walters in turn obtained the money she allegedly gave her brother from a $170,000 check that Turnbull wrote to her from Turnbull's fake business, Chapa Interiors. "This is one of the accounts that millions of dollars in proceeds from the scheme initially went through," the affidavit said. "Harriette Walters then purchased a number of cashier's checks, including one written to herself for $100,000."
A week and a half later, Turnbull withdrew $50,000 from the Chapa account, the affidavit said. Meanwhile, Harriette Walters received three cash deposits totaling $76,200.
"The check to Richard Walters for $18,700 is inconsistent with Harriette Walters' legitimate income and is consistent with the method used by Harriette Walters to disburse the fraud proceeds to co-conspirators," the affidavit said.
Harriette Walters earned $87,000 a year.
Harriette Walters and Turnbull are jailed on bank fraud charges.
The affidavit shows that investigators cannot account for most of the scammed money.
"To date, the FBI has seized in excess of $4 million from bank accounts, a Bentley, two Mercedes, more than 100 designer handbags, over 100 pairs of designer shoes, boots and items of clothing, and other evidence of mass consumption, all of which appear to be the proceeds of this fraud," it said.
"Harriette Walters spent more than $1.4 million at Neiman Marcus, and approximately half a million dollars at Saks Fifth Avenue, and made additional purchases at the Louis Vuitton Store, Nordstrom's and Macy's."
The Washington Post has reported that $50 million, not the $20 million mentioned in court records, was the real amount stolen in property taxes.
