Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Breslow said Perez is a native of the Dominican Republic who has been living here illegally and that her real name is Yolanda Mercedes Perez de Lopez.
SPRINGFIELD – A tax preparer pleaded not guilty Monday in U.S. District Court to submitting false tax returns for clients and using fraudulent paperwork to obtain a mortgage.
Alicia Perez , 47, of Rosie Lane, Agawam, denied charges contained in a 14-count indictment during her arraignment before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kenneth P. Neiman.
If convicted, Perez faces up to 48 months in prison under federal guidelines, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven H. Breslow said.
Neiman scheduled a hearing for Friday to determine whether the defendant, who is currently in federal custody, should be released on bail.
In a motion opposing Perez’s release, Breslow said she is a native of the Dominican Republic who entered the country in 2001 on a travel visa, and has been living here illegally using and identity of a Springfield woman named Alicia Perez-Accetta.
Although she is identified in the indictment as Alicia Perez, the defendant’s real name is Yolanda Mercedes Perez de Lopez, Breslow stated in his motion.
Following her arrest last week, the defendant told federal agents her real name was Yolanda Perez, the prosecutor noted.
The defendant works for Lopez MultiService, a company that provides tax preparation and immigration counseling to mostly Spanish-speaking clientele, according to the indictment.
The indictment accuses Perez of helping clients get greater tax refunds between February 2007 and April 2009 by overstating their business expenses.
None of the clients are named in the indictment, which cites 14 cases where misleading information was supplied to the federal government.
The indictment also claims that Perez submitted false tax returns to a local bank to obtain a mortgage for a home in Agawam with her business partner, identified as JL in the indictment, and Jose Lopez, of Central Street, Springfield, in Breslow’s detention motion.
In seeking to have the defendant held without bail, Breslow cited the her status as an illegal alien, noting that she will be deported to the Dominican Republic when the case has concluded.
Defense lawyer Joseph A. Franco, explaining he had just taken the case, asked for several days to review his client’s legal and immigration status.
Neiman set the detention hearing for Friday, and a pre-trial conference for Sept. 12.