http://childhoodrelived.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/family_circus_notme21.gif

"Who at the Department of Revenue blew this?"

I'd suspect the first Dept of Rev employee who transfers out with a raise to a new job and bigger PERS.

The silence from the state on this one will be deafening.

I'd suspect the first Dept of Rev employee who transfers out with a raise to a new job and bigger PERS.

Then "retires" and gets hired back as a consultant at twice the pay he got as an employee.

Those rewards do add up. If she spend most of the $150k at Freddy's, her quarterly reward might be enough to rent Mr. Houze for a couple hours.

More like, "how many" DOR employees blew this: their internal controls should have subjected this return to multiple layers of review.

If not (and it really is this easy to defraud DOR), it seems many more of these bogus returns may have gone undetected.

The perp doesn't sound like the inventor of this scam.

She got busted when she called to report the debit card was lost.

Which raises an interesting question: If you had scammed the state out of $2 million and they gave you a debit card with all of that money on it, wouldn't you go to some length to NOT LOSE THE CARD??

I just wanna know why someone with 2.1 million on a debit card is buying a $2000 1999 Dodge Caravan.

The ODR employee will probably go to work for CRC.

There are only a handful of people in the State of Oregon who have an annual income greater than $3M per year. It just wouldn't be that hard for one person at the Dept of Revenue to know each of the "whales".

There is a fairly standard profile that fits most people earning $3M per year. Either you're a business owner, C-level exec, professional athelete or fairly successful within the entertainment industry.

It shouldn't take more than 30 seconds to figure out that this gal isn't any of the above.

Someone was obviously brain dead. Especially since the computer spit out her tax filing as a possible fraud.

I'd love to see that filing. Wonder if she created a fake 1099 form to back up the income?

Which raises an interesting question: If you had scammed the state out of $2 million and they gave you a debit card with all of that money on it, wouldn't you go to some length to NOT LOSE THE CARD??

I think either:

• Someone who knew what she was up to stole it from her, it's a rather valuable piece of plastic.
• She thought she could pump more money out of it by claiming it stolen and getting a replacement.
• She knew they were onto her, got scared, and thought by claiming it stolen she could blame somebody else for all use of the card.

This could have *something* to do with it:

The agency had been without a permanent director for more than a year before Gov. John Kitzhaber appointed longtime employee James Bucholz last month.

I bet she is not th originator of this scam for all of the reasons listed above.
Now the real question is WHO is really responsible?

You wonder how many more of these there are -- and how many are long gone.

Wait, they caught me? I'm glad I "lost" that card and they found Krystle, if that's my real name. It would have been more fitting if a person named "Patsy" had found my lost card.

Nobody: The reason this woman was buying a non-descript vehicle like a 1999 Dodge Caravan was not to draw any extra attention to herself.
Here in Nevada we have lots of ordinary Joes that work in the gold mining industry and earn well above $100K. Many buy an older used pickup truck so as not to draw any extra attention to themselves.

"You wonder how many more of these there are -- and how many are long gone."

Probably kicking back in Guadalajara without a prayer of getting caught because the ODR never really knew who they were to begin with. It seems obvious that the ODR is a little weak in their computing/fraud/cross checking dept. if something this obvious doesn't set off alarm bells all the way to the top of the agency. Any refund over 100K should require a paper check with two signatures on it, one of them a V.P. or higher. That has been the standard in private industry for decades.

My bet is that the ODR/ODOJ will cook up some sort of a lawsuit against Turbo Tax over all of this. I'm sure there are plenty of land sharks out there willing to do it on a contingency as long as the taxpayers front the costs.

Color me cynical, and recognize that I spent far too much time as a prosecutor, but I have a nagging feeling and strong personal opinion that this couldn't work without some inside help within DOR waving a it through and waiving various internal checks.

Sure be interesting to see just what every dime of that $150 K went for; how much was cash, and where the cash went.

But I'm too cynical.

Salem's Statesman-Journal reported that state computers flagged the $2.1 million refund for possible fraud, but it was overridden by a Dept. of Revenue employee. Somebody's head should roll at DOR, but of course thanks to the public employees' union, this will never happen.

Usual Kevin -- hahahaha! Over $100,000? I was less than $700 the wrong way with ODR and practically had two agents and a mean dog knocking at my door.

I expect the excuse will be that their computer system and software is out of date and must be replaced for a mere $100 million

How do you get a 2.1 million dollar state tax refund on 3 million dollars of income in the first place?

Well, the way I do it is I make an estimated tax payment of $2.5 mill, which I then claim as a federal deduction for state income taxes. Of course, my $2.1 mill refund is taxable income When i get it, so it's a can to kick down the road for a few years.