Mendoza, who was found to have caused a $1.2 million-tax loss, pleaded guilty in  February to two counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of false income tax returns.

Beginning about 2013, Mendoza ran her tax preparation businesses under the names, "Taxes & More" and "Taxes y Mas." She used false and inflated deductions and credits on clients’ tax returns. She also utilized their personal ID information to obtain a larger refund on her own tax returns.

Besides inflating client refund requests, she stole the excess amount of the returns, putting $500,000 in refund payments into her own accounts from 2013 through 2017. While on pre-trial release in March, she was arrested while in possession of a stolen passport, drivers licenses, and credit cards in the name of other individuals, along with forged copies of checks.