Tip a Cop, donate to Special Olympics
If you have dinner at Logan’s Roadhouse in Kissimmee Friday, your server may be in uniform — just not the restaurant’s.
Sheriff Marcos R. Lopez and members of the Osceola County Sheriff ’s Office will participate in “Tip a Cop” from 5-9 p.m. at 5925 W. Irlo Bronson Highway. Deputies will work as servers, and the tips they receive from patrons will be donated to Special Olympics Florida, a non-profit organization that provides year-round sports training and athletic competition to more than 2.2 million people with intellectual disabilities.
Special Olympics Florida is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2022. Additionally, the Special Olympics USA Games will be held in Central Florida this June, with events taking place at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports and Osceola Heritage Park. In past years under
In past years under numerous sheriffs, OCSO has participated in Tip a Cop to raise funds for various non-profit groups. The Sheriff ’s Office also participates in the annual Law Enforcement Torch Run, to benefit Special Olympics.
Kissimmee man sentenced to 18 months for tax fraud
A U.S. District Judge sentenced Marcos Antonio Tejeda to 18 months in federal prison for preparing false tax returns for himself and others. Tejeda had pleaded guilty on Dec. 7, 2021. According to court
According to court documents, Tejeda owned and operated a tax preparation and accounting business. Tejeda provided personal and business accounting and tax preparation services for “S.M.” in 2016, 2017, and 2018. As a part of these services, Tejeda maintained a business bank account into which S.M. deposited money for estimated tax payments to the IRS. In 2016 and 2017, Tejeda prepared a 1040 tax return for S.M. Each year Tejeda prepared two versions of the same tax return, one he claimed was accurate, and one he knew was false. The accurate tax return included the estimated tax payments S.M. made and was predominately correct. This first version in both 2016 and 2017 also showed that S.M. owed money in addition to the money he had paid in estimated tax payments. Tejeda then created a second, fraudulent tax return for tax years 2016 and 2017. The fraudulent tax returns were filed with the IRS. These fraudulent returns misrepresented S.M.’s business gross receipts, capital gains, gross income, adjusted gross income, and other statutory adjustments under the provisions of the Internal Revenue laws to fraudulently decrease the amount of taxes owed.
Tejeda then embezzled the money that S.M. had provided for estimated tax payments and to pay the taxes that S.M. believed were owed based on the first version of the tax return created by Tejeda. In total, Tejeda embezzled $120,329.46 from S.M.
“We are in tax filing season, and those who might consider preparing false tax returns should be aware of the consequences as evidenced today,” said IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Brian Payne. “The sentencing of Tejada emphasizes that the IRS will continue our aggressive pursuit of those who attempt to defraud America’s tax system.”
This case was investigated by The Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Amanda Daniels.
