A former Racine resident was charged with 21 counts of making false claim against the Internal Revenue Service by filing false federal income.

United States Attorney Gregory J. Haanstad announced that on January 10, 2017, a federal grand jury in Milwaukee returned an indictment against Tomeki L. Tyson, now of North Las Vegas, Nevada, and formerly of Racine, Wisconsin.

The indictment alleges that during the period from approximately January 2009 until February 2015, the defendant defrauded and stole money from the IRS through filing fraudulent tax returns containing false employment, income, and tax withholding information, which claimed tax refunds in the names of various actual persons.

The indictment further charges that the defendant filed more than 250 such false refund claims with the IRS over this period.

Each of the 21 false claim charges contained in the indictment carries a maximum possible penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 or both.