Lafayette Couple Booked With Tax Fraud

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — State revenue officials say the married owners of a Lafayette tax preparation business face dozens of felony charges for a fraud scheme that cost Louisiana taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

James Terry Chester and Constance Brown-Chester are accused of filing fraudulent state income tax returns for their clients and themselves.

Investigators with the Louisiana Department of Revenue said in a news release that the Chesters, owners of C&B Tax Service, submitted state tax returns containing fabricated business losses for clients who had sustained no losses and in many cases were not business owners.

Officials say the scheme resulted in $226,000 in fraudulent income tax refunds.

The Chesters were booked Wednesday into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.

Online jail records do not list an attorney for the couple.