Khristine N. Harper, a 42-year-old resident of Pensacola, has pleaded guilty in federal court to twenty counts of aiding and assisting the preparation of false tax returns and one count of identity theft. The announcement was made by John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
U.S. Attorney Heekin stated: “I applaud the excellent investigative work by our federal law enforcement partners to identify and dismantle this offender’s sophisticated fraud scheme. Defrauding the federal government victimizes every taxpaying citizen, and my office will aggressively pursue criminal prosecutions of fraudsters to ensure they are held accountable to the full extent of the law for their crimes.”
According to court documents, between 2018 and 2024 Harper prepared and filed fraudulent income tax returns for clients by reporting false deductions, credits, and other items not provided by those clients. In July 2023, after learning she was under investigation by Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, Harper changed her business name from Kings Tax Service to Echelon Tax. She also obtained a Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) using another individual’s identity without permission and used that PTIN to file 2023 tax returns for her clients. The indictment states that these actions led to more than $103,000 in tax losses for the IRS based on just twenty specific returns involved in the case.
Sentencing is scheduled for December 17, 2025 at 1:00 p.m., before United States District Judge M. Casey Rodgers at the United States Courthouse in Pensacola.
The case resulted from a joint investigation conducted by Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Alicia H. Forbes is prosecuting.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida serves as one of 94 offices acting as principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. More information about public court documents can be found at U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website (https://www.flnd.uscourts.gov/), and details about the U.S. Attorney’s Office are available at http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.
