TAVARES, Fla.—A tax preparer has bonded out of jail for the third time in a little over three months and police say she scammed at least three of her clients.
Shaqueena Fabra Lister, 34, of Tavares is accused of stealing nearly $25,000 from three of her clients who utilized her business, World Wide Taxes, 1020 East Alfred St., Tavares, according to several probable cause affidavits.
Between April and June, three victims reported to Tavares Police Department they used Lister to file their taxes but never received their refunds.
In one case, a man told police he paid Lister $1,200 in March and gave her his bank account information so his $12,684 tax return could be deposited into his account. He received word from the IRS that his return had been deposited into his account in April but soon realized his return had been deposited in Lister’s account. He confronted Lister about the discrepancy, he told police, and she refused to give him his money and told him she would be suing him for defamation.
TPD Det. Courtney Sullivan, who also serves as the agency’s public information officer, spent months working on the cases.
“These victims entrusted Shaqueena Lister and her tax business to manage their taxes for them,” Sullivan told Inside Lake. “Instead of being professional while handling something so personal, she took advantage of these hardworking individuals by stealing their hard-earned (tax) refunds. What she has done is unacceptable and frankly, corrupt.”
Through Sullivan’s investigation in all three cases, she found that Lister had the tax refunds loaded onto prepaid cards, and she used these cards in many ways, including cash withdrawals, multiple fast-food purchases and a purchase at a beauty supply store in Eustis. Several ATM withdrawals were captured on surveillance video and Sullivan was able to determine it was Lister completing the transactions, even using her tattoos to identify her, according to the affidavit.
Three separate warrants were issued for her arrest and the most recent warrant was issued last month. Following an Aug. 19 social media post on TPD’s popular Facebook page, Lister turned herself into authorities on Sept. 3. She was booked into the Lake County Jail, where she was released on $20,000 bond. In Sullivan’s three cases, Lister is facing three counts of grand theft, and 21 counts each, of fraudulent use of a credit card and criminal use of personal identification information. Her legal troubles may not stop there.
“We will be turning these investigations over to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to conduct its own investigation into how Shaqueen Lister handles her tax business,” Sullivan said.
