Date: May 17, 2023

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Madison, WI - A federal grand jury in the Western District of Wisconsin, sitting in Madison, returned an indictment today on a Texas woman charged with tax evasion.

Sarah Doherty, also known as Sarah McKibbin, Azle, Texas, is charged with eleven counts of wire fraud and four counts of tax evasion as part of a scheme to defraud that occurred between November 2016 and October 2020. The indictment alleges that a business owner hired Doherty to provide services for the business, named in the indictment as Business-1, and that in 2015, Doherty formed an S-corporation, Faith Outdoor Consulting, LLC, to facilitate the relationship with the business. The indictment alleges that Doherty used her access to the financial information of the business and its owner to defraud the business of approximately $3.43 million, and that she told the business's bookkeepers and its outside accountant that the money was spent on business expenses, when she actually used the money to pay her personal expenses.

The indictment also alleges that Doherty attempted to evade income taxes owed to the United States by submitting to the IRS a false and fraudulent Form 1040 for calendar years 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, and by submitting a false and fraudulent Form 1120-S for Faith Outdoor Consulting, LLC, for calendar years 2017, 2018, and 2019. The indictment alleges that these tax forms substantially understated her gross income and concealed gross income by disguising it as business expenses for Business-1.

If convicted, Doherty faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison on each wire fraud count, and 5 years in prison on each tax evasion count. The charges against her are the result of an investigation by IRS Criminal Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Fall River Police Department, and Columbia County Sheriff's Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Wegner is handling the prosecution.

An indictment is merely an accusation, the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.