Man Pleads Guilty to Bilking IRS From Prison Cell

SANTA ANA —  A federal inmate who wangled more than $82,000 out of the Internal Revenue Service from his prison cell will be staying there a bit longer after pleading guilty Monday to filing a false tax refund claim.

Former Anaheim Hills resident Gerald McComber, who was serving a five-year sentence for securities fraud, pleaded guilty in federal court in Santa Ana Monday to making the false refund claim while still an inmate in the federal lockup in Lompoc.

According to prosecutors, McComber filed eight fraudulent tax returns from prison from 1993 to 1995. He claimed refunds totaling nearly $345,000--although the IRS caught onto the scheme after paying out a mere $82,705.

“I guess if you’re serving time, and you have nothing better to do, you just think up another scheme,” said Assistant U.S. Atty. Carmen Luege.

Authorities say the 41-year-old McComber filed the returns using phony documents and other people’s names. Although McComber admitted to filing multiple false returns, federal prosecutors charged him with just a single count since the sentencing guidelines are the same.

McComber--who had been scheduled to be released from Lompoc in late April and who in June would have finished a concurrent state sentence for previously filing false income tax returns--now faces up to five additional years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled for July 25.

McComber’s attorney said the former contractor never received any of the money and that he concocted the scheme to help provide for his young daughter.

“He felt morally compelled to provide some support for his ex-wife and child,” said attorney James L. Waltz of Laguna Hills. “He didn’t benefit at all. He did it to benefit others.”

Waltz said McComber has agreed to pay full restitution to the IRS.

How did he pull off such an elaborate scheme, which included filing false W-2 forms along with other bogus tax documents? “He must have had some help from the outside,” Waltz said.