RALEIGH, N.C. – On Thursday, March 28, 2024, Terri Lynette Howard, 66, of Lancaster, South Carolina, was arrested on felony tax charges filed by the North Carolina Department of Revenue, according to a news release. The release states that Howard, executive director of the Mecklenburg County based non-profit, A Place for Heroes, was charged with two counts of Obtaining Property by False Pretenses.
Indictments allege that Howard unlawfully obtained a sales tax refund of approximately $217,817.44 from the North Carolina Department of Revenue by filing fraudulent Forms E-585, North Carolina Individual Non-Profit Sales Tax Refund Claims from July 1 through December 31, 2018, and January 1 through June 30, 2019. Howard claimed approximately $217,817.44 was paid in sales tax by A Place for Heroes for the corresponding periods, when in fact it was not.
Howard appeared before a Stanly County magistrate and was placed under a $50,000.00 secured bond. A first appearance is scheduled for April 8, 2024, in Wake County Superior Court in Raleigh.
The charges against Howard resulted from an investigation by special agents with the Department’s Criminal Investigations Division in Raleigh.
