A former IRS employee was sentenced Tuesday to 51 months in prison for filing false tax returns and other criminal charges, the Justice Department announced.
In June, a Sacramento, California, jury found Alena Aleykina, 45, guilty of filing six false tax returns, stealing government funds and obstruction of justice.
The Justice Department said Aleykina’s conduct resulted in a loss to the government of more than $50,000.
Aleykina was a special agent for the IRS Criminal Investigation Unit, which handles tax law violations. She worked there from 2006 until 2014, according to court documents.
Prosecutors said Aleykina filed three personal tax returns in the names of trusts she created. On her personal tax returns, she fraudulently claimed head of household filing status and listed false dependents and education expenses to which she was not entitled. She also falsely claimed on a trust return she was paying wages to her mother and sister to care for her son and father, according to court documents.
Aleykina was also accused of stealing from the IRS’s Tuition Assistance Program by falsely claiming $4,000 in tuition reimbursements for classes she did not take, prosecutors said.
When criminal investigators asked approached Aleykina to retrieve her government laptop, she lied to the agents about its location and deleted dozens of files after they left, court documents said.
In addition to the prison term, Aleykina was also ordered to serve one year of supervised release and pay $4,000 in restitution to the IRS.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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