EX-NYC DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION EMPLOYEE INDICTED FOR NOT REPORTING OVER $135K SHE RECEIVED FROM INMATES’ ASSOCIATES

 

Defendant Charged with Filing False Tax Return and Tax Fraud

Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a former New York City Department of Correction employee was indicted for falsifying her state personal income tax return by failing to declare over $135,000 in payments she received from associates and relatives of inmates while working as a cook on Rikers Island. 

District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant allegedly received more than $135,000 through payment apps from associates and relatives of persons in custody while she was employed as a cook in a jail facility. She allegedly failed to report that money on her personal income tax returns to avoid paying taxes. This kind of alleged criminal conduct by city employees will not be tolerated.”

NYC Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said, “As alleged in the Indictment, this defendant, a former Department of Correction employee, accepted payments from relatives and associates of persons in custody in violation of Correction Department rules and the City’s conflict of interest law. She is also charged with criminal tax fraud, for failing to report these unlawful payments, among other charges. It is critical that our City’s employees be free of conflicts of interest, particularly those trusted to maintain the safety and security of persons in custody in the City’s jails. I thank Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark and her staff for their partnership and commitment to upholding public trust and accountability.”

District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Tawanna Shackelford, 48, of Manhattan, was arraigned today by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Laurence Busching on first-degree Offering a False Instrument, second-degree Offering a False Instrument, third-degree Criminal Tax Fraud, fourth-degree Criminal Tax Fraud, fifth-degree Criminal Tax Fraud and a New York City Conflict of Interest Violation. She is due back in court on January 6, 2026.

According to the investigation, Shackelford began working for the New York City Department of Correction as a cook at the Robert N. Davoren Center on Rikers’ Island in 2022. She allegedly started receiving payments on Zelle and Cash App from associates and relatives of persons in custody. Between August 4, 2022, and December 31, 2022, Shackelford received Zelle payments totaling $100,292.00, and Cash App payments totaling $34,849.71 for a total of $135,141.71.

These payments are considered income but were not reported on her New York State Personal Income Tax return, which she prepared and then mailed on April 24, 2023. These payments are also New York City Conflict of Interest Violations as they expressly conflict with her duties working for the New York City Department of Correction. She was terminated from her position in 2024.

District Attorney Clark thanked Department of Correction Captain Antonio Fonseca of the Department of Investigation’s Office of the Inspector General for DOC, and the Criminal Investigations Division of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance for their work on the investigation.

An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.