Five members of northern Colorado family indicted on fraud charges
In what began as a regional drug investigation, five members of a northern Colorado family were indicted last month of fraudulently obtaining unemployment benefits during the coronavirus pandemic and putting false information in their tax returns.
State prosecutors have charged the family members with 13 counts - eight of them against a single family member.
Twenty-six-year-old Robert Tarin Jr. of Berthoud faces one count each of theft and cybercrime-theft, and two counts each of attempt to influence a public official, forgery, and filing a false tax return. All are felonies.
According to the grand jury indictment, Tarin Jr. lied on an application for state unemployment benefits, specifically stating that he temporarily shut down his tow truck business, King Towing, due to the pandemic. However, investigators determined through bank accounts that the towing business, and another undisclosed business, King Fence, never actually ceased operations.
Tarin Jr. allegedly received more than $31,000 in unemployment insurance benefits from the state and did not declare the funds, nor any income from his two businesses, in his 2020 and 2021 tax returns, according to the indictment.
Tarin Jr.'s parents, 51-year-old Ramon Tarin-Deleon and 60-year-old Ana Maria Tarin, are accused of claiming gross sales of $263,000 from their restaurant, Taqueria Loveland, during 2020. Bank deposits, in fact, showed the business made more than twice that amount, according to the indictment.
The couple is charged with one count of Filing a False Tax Return, a felony.
Investigators also discovered Tarin Jr.'s aunt and uncle, 59-year-old Luz Tarin and 57-year-old Adrian Tarin, allegedly fudged similar numbers from their restaurant, Taqueria Greeley, in tax returns from 2018 to 2020, per the indictment. The misrepresentations in income resulted in the owners avoiding payment of almost $20,000 in sales taxes.
Luz Tarin faces three counts of Filing a False Return and Adrian Tarin one count.
"This began as a Northern Colorado Drug Task Force case," Lt. Mark Hertz from the Northern Colorado Drug Task Force stated in a press release, "but quickly expanded to include the Department of Revenue and the Colorado Attorney General's Office, who brought additional areas of expertise to the investigation."
The Colorado Attorney General's Office did not respond to CBS News Colorado's inquiries about the nature of the prior drug investigation.
The state's cases were filed in Jefferson County District Court. The five defendants posted bonds and are all scheduled for arraignments on April 17.
