Woman Pleads Guilty to New Tax Fraud Charge

Fourteen years after she was convicted of what may still be the largest welfare fraud in history, a Pasadena woman pleaded guilty Monday to new felony charges of defrauding the government out of $89,000 by submitting bogus tax refunds.

Dorothy Mae Woods, 55, who in 1983 was dubbed a “welfare queen” for collecting $377,500 in welfare as a dozen different people while living in a mansion, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the government, U.S. Atty. Nora M. Manella said.

Woods’ son, Leonard Bernard Palmer, 38, of Duarte and his fiancee, Clarissa Lanell Anderson, 36, of Pasadena pleaded guilty to conspiracy and aiding and abetting the making of false claims respectively, Manella said. All three face up to 10 years in federal prison and fines, a prosecutor said.

The defendants forged about 160 federal tax returns using the names and Social Security numbers of low-income people, fraudulently applying for refunds on their behalf through the earned-income tax credit, prosecutors said.