Jailed Spokane man sentenced in tax-refund fraud

A Spokane man was sentenced to nearly two years in prison Thursday for tax fraud he committed from jail. Richard C. Vancil, 44, was sentenced to 23 months for submitting 63 false income tax refund claims totaling more than $92,000 for the 2005, 2006 and 2007 tax years while an inmate at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center in Connell, Wash. He waived indictment April 19 and pleaded guilty to two counts of making a false claim for income tax refunds, according to a Department of Justice news release. Vancil filed three tax returns in his name; the other 60 were submitted in other inmates’ names, the news release said. His scheme was discovered by the state Department of Corrections and the Internal Revenue Services Fraud Detection Center. The IRS prevented payment on two dozen of the claims, but issued refunds totaling nearly $55,000 on the other claims. Vancil was sentenced in federal court; he’ll be placed under court supervision for three years after he is released and has been ordered to pay restitution to the IRS for the false claims. Chelsea Bannach