MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A Dothan tax preparer has been sentenced to nearly five years in federal prison after admitting to filing false tax returns, including one she prepared for a client while she was already under federal indictment and on pretrial release.
Carlotta Elaine Lampley, 41, was sentenced Sept. 10 to 57 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. A federal judge also ordered her to pay $314,247 in restitution.
According to court documents, Lampley operated a tax preparation business in Dothan and had been preparing returns for clients since 2015. She commonly collected her preparation fees by withholding the money from clients’ tax refunds before transferring the remaining proceeds to them.
Federal investigators determined Lampley prepared and filed false returns for herself and clients during tax years 2020 through 2025.
In her plea agreement, Lampley admitted filing a 2023 federal income tax return for herself in 2024 that reported income of $52,343. She knew that figure was inaccurate because it excluded fees she earned preparing clients’ returns and withheld from their refunds, prosecutors said.
A federal grand jury later indicted Lampley, and she was arrested Sept. 24, 2025. She was released pending trial under conditions that included not committing additional crimes.
Prosecutors said Lampley continued preparing false returns despite the indictment.
On Jan. 22, 2026, Lampley prepared a return falsely claiming that a client operated a business and earned a profit from it, even though the client did not own such a business and had never told Lampley otherwise, according to court records.
She also reported “other earned income” that the client had not received. Lampley admitted the false information was intended to affect the client’s federal tax liability and benefit the client at the expense of the IRS.
That conduct violated the conditions of her pretrial release and resulted in prosecutors filing a superseding indictment with additional charges.
The $314,247 restitution order includes $62,915 tied to Lampley’s own tax returns and $251,332 associated with returns she prepared for other taxpayers. Prosecutors estimated the actual loss from the broader false-return scheme at more than $2.1 million.
IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan A. Kirkpatrick prosecuted it.