An American Samoan woman has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Anchorage, Alaska for making false tax claims against the U.S. government, using tax forms from people residing in American Samoa, who are not entitled to tax refunds from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), according to federal prosecutors in Anchorage.

Pepe Anetipa, 58, is charged under a 28-count indictment for making false, fictitious, and fraudulent claims against the government. The seven-page indictment was handed down late last month.

Federal prosecutors allege that Anetipa filed falsified tax returns claiming total refunds of at least $202,859.

Prosecutors and court records state that the defendant was arrested in Washington state on Dec. 2, 2014, and transferred to the federal court in Anchorage where she was arraigned last week Thursday before U.S. District Court Judge Kevin F. McCoy.

Anetipa pled not guilty, with trial set for Feb. 9, 2015, according to court documents, which show that the court set conditions of her release from custody, however, it was not clear whether or not she had been released on bond.

According to the indictment, Anetipa moved from American Samoa to Alaska in July 2011 and by February the following year she had obtained an Alaska business license for Triple-H Tax and Services located in Anchorage, where her business consisted of  tax preparations.

The indictment alleges that the defendant used information on wage and tax withholding reported to residents of American Samoa on a “Form W-2AS American Samoa Wage and Tax Statement” and transferred the information to a regular “Form W-2 Wage and Tax Statement.”

This information was subsequently reported on the federal tax Form 1040 to claim tax refunds, although American Samoa residents living in American Samoa were not required to file tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) if all of their income was derived from sources in the territory, the indictment states.

It further alleges that Anetipa knew very well at the time of the tax filings that none of the individuals for whom she had prepared tax returns had earned wages outside of America Samoa.

Additionally, the defendant also changed the addresses on the W-2 Forms to reflect addresses in Texas or Alaska, instead of Pago Pago, American Samoa. The altered W-2 Forms were then submitted with the tax returns by the defendant.

The altered Forms W-2 gave the tax returns the false appearance that the income was earned in the United States rather than America Samoa and that federal tax withholding was paid into the U.S. system.

Furthermore the amounts from the false Forms W-2 were then entered by the defendant into forms for U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns, and filed with the IRS, resulting in false claims for federal income tax refunds.

“The refund claims were materially false because, in fact, no federal taxes had been withheld, no credits were due, and therefore no refund was due and owing,” according to the indictment.

The 28 counts against the defendant are for the 28 people from American Samoa for which she prepared and filed false tax returns with the IRS, whose Criminal Division investigated this case.

The indictment only shows the initials of those whose taxes were filed by the defendant with the IRS, and the filing all occurred in 2012. The largest tax refund on the list is for $10,840 going to the person(s) with initials “S. & M.S.”

Another tax refund totaling $10,407 went to person(s) with initials M. & F. A.

The rest of the tax refund amounts range from more than $2,000 to just over $9,000, according to the list on the indictment.

In a news release announcing the indictment, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Anchorage stressed that an indictment is merely an accusation of charges and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The defendant is entitled to a fair trial at which the government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Making false claims against the government carries a sentence of up to five years for each false return, it says.

Asked if the federal government will go after those who received IRS tax refunds due to Anetipa’s action and if also if the feds have located these individuals, who received the refunds, federal prosecutor Thomas Bradley told Samoa News that he cannot respond to these and other questions right now “because the information is not yet public”.

“If the case pleads out or goes to trial, that information will become clear,” he said from Anchorage yesterday afternoon.

This federal case comes years after the previous administration had urged American Samoa residents not to file their taxes in the U.S. because it's illegal and against federal law.

Former Gov. Togiola Tulafono and retired Tax Office manager Melvin Joseph had publicly stressed several times that local tax payers can only file their taxes in American Samoa, the source of their income.

One of the main reasons that local residents would file taxes in the U.S. was to receive a refund check by claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit, a credit for which American Samoa and other U.S. territories are not currently entitled.