Money from fraudulent tax returns was deposited into her account. Now she’s headed to prison.

A Macon woman was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison Monday in connection with a $60,000 tax fraud scheme.

Latricia Griffin wept as she told U.S. District Judge Leslie Abrams, “I got caught up with the wrong crowd.”

Griffin opened up a business checking account with BB&T Bank in 2011 in her name, doing business as Griffins Financial Business — a company that was listed as being at her home address. Griffin was the sole signatory on the account, according to her plea agreement.

Between January and November 2011, the account received 19 direct deposits from the U.S. Treasury and one treasury check deposited over the counter, totaling $32,817.

Griffin also had a personal savings account at SunTrust Bank, where she received 11 direct deposits from the U.S. Treasury totaling $15,344.

One of the 11 deposits was from an income tax return fraudulently filed in the name of a person who’d been dead more than a year before the return was filed, according to the agreement.

When confronted by police in June 2011, Griffin admitted that she had become involved in a tax fraud ring, but she refused to name the other people involved.

Catherine Williams, Griffin’s lawyer, said her client has worked to change her life in the five years since the crimes were committed.

People from community groups where Griffin has worked testified on her behalf during the sentencing hearing, asking for mercy on Griffin’s behalf.

Williams said Griffin wasn’t the person preparing or filing the fake tax returns. She didn’t steal anyone’s personal information. The checks were just deposited into her account.

Prosecutor Graham Thorpe said Griffin withdrew money from the accounts that received the money, both in cash and using a debit card.

In sentencing Griffin, the judge said, “This wasn’t a mistake … a one-time oops. This was a concerted, continued practice.”

After completing her prison sentence, Griffin must serve an additional three years on supervised release.

She also must pay $60,222 in restitution to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and the Georgia Department of Revenue.

This story was originally published April 10, 2017 at 3:29 PM with the headline "Money from fraudulent tax returns was deposited into her account. Now she’s headed to prison.."