Former Fresno woman gives up mansion and BMW as part of federal tax evasion case

A former Fresno woman who dodged $870,000 in federal taxes has pleaded guilty to tax evasion and obstructing an IRS audit.

Pilar Rose, 51, could face a total of eight years in prison: five years for tax evasion plus three years for the obstruction charge. She must also pay $105,000 in fines.

According to court records, from 2012 through 2015, Rose prepared false financial statements for her husband’s orthodontics practice that had offices in Fresno, Kings, and Madera counties. Investigators accused Rose of significantly underreporting the practice’s profits.

“As a result, Rose evaded more than $870,000 that she and her husband owed in federal taxes,” according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Rose was also charged with trying to obstruct an IRS audit of her and her husband’s taxes in 2016. She is accused of altering hundreds of checks that were for the couple’s nondeductible personal expenses, such as their mortgage, utilities, landscaping, pool cleaning, cars, credit cards, and children’s college tuition.

She tried to make it appear as though the checks were for deductible business expenses. She also created false financial statements for her husband’s orthodontics practice to match the altered checks. She provided the altered checks and false financial statements to the IRS auditors to try to avoid paying the federal taxes that she and her husband actually owed, according to a news release.

As part of the investigation, Rose agreed to forfeit her share of more than $2.5 million in proceeds from the sale of her and her husband’s mansion on Van Ness Boulevard in Fresno.

Investigators said Rose obtained a $1,475,000 home mortgage refinance loan for the Van Ness Boulevard home by deceiving bank officials.

“In the application, she represented that their bank accounts had a combined balance of more than $250,000 when they actually had less than $3,000,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s news release.

Authorities later seized the residence and a $90,000 BMW sedan she was able to finance using false information.

According to court documents, Rose represented to a bank that she was an attorney who made more than $600,000 per year when she actually was not an attorney. She also used the Social Security number belonging to her husband’s former dental school classmate, knowing her real SSN would result in her having a low credit score, which could have disqualified her from receiving the loan.

Rose is scheduled to be sentenced on March 17.