Agawam woman sentenced to prison in false tax return case

AGAWAM, Mass. (WWLP) – A former Town of Agawam employee and tax preparer has been sentenced to prison in a tax fraud case.

According to investigators, 66-year-old Colleen Gruska filed dozens of false tax returns for herself and others over several years, through her tax preparation business, that contained fraudulent information. Court documents show that she reported business losses that were either overstated or were for non-existent businesses showing little or no federal income tax being owed by the taxpayer.

Gruska pleaded guilty to four counts of filing false tax returns and was sentenced to two months in prison followed by 12 months of supervised release with the first six months to be served in home confinement, and pay $261,102 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

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