Complaints continue to be filed in the case of a tax preparer who apparently disappeared during tax season in 2023.
The state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Office of Consumer Protection website lists 10 complaints filed against Hilo Income Tax Service and its enrolled agent, Michele Slone, the latest filed March 8.
One complaint resulted in a civil settlement on May 27, 2023. Terms of the settlement are not public.
The other nine complaints list the disposition of the case as “unable to proceed.”
“Without going into the details of the complaint, because those are confidential, situations may occur where they are unable to locate the respondent, or they’ve crossed Hawaii (state) lines, where we don’t have any jurisdiction,” said William Nhieu, DCCA spokesman. “That may be a situation that has occurred, but I can’t speak to what exactly happened here.”
Capt. Rio Amon-Wilkins of the Hawaii Police Department’s East Hawaii Criminal Investigation Division, said police also continue to receive complaints about Hilo Income Tax Service and Slone’s disappearance.
“Most of the complaints we have gotten, nobody’s had a loss or anything,” Amon-Wilkins said. “We’ve had a couple where people who paid for their services, and then the taxes were never filed.
“But it seems that most of the cases that we’ve gotten were where people dropped off their tax documents and believed that their returns were going to be filed, but just didn’t have any follow-up. There’s nothing to indicate that taxes were filed and the money was (stolen), anything like that.”
Amon-Wilkins estimated the number of complaints received by police as “about two dozen or so.”
Police have received information that Slone is in Nevada, Amon-Wilkins said, but added, “so far, that hasn’t panned out.”
The first complaints filed with police about Slone occurred in May 2023.
A small claims civil case was filed on June 1, 2023, in Hilo District Court by Haunani Saraos. The filing is seeking $413.12 Saraos claims she paid to Slone on April 7, 2023, to prepare a joint tax return for Saraos and her husband.
“I believe that this business owes me money because I paid for her services to do our taxes on this day, but she did not do what I signed for,” Saraos’ complaint states. “She printed out a paper (she) made me and my husband sign saying she did our taxes electronically, but I have called the IRS on May 9. They said they have nothing for us on file.
“I’ve gone to her for a couple of years. She’s been good. I just don’t know what happen(ed) this time. I trusted her. I’ve tried emailing her and asking for a refund there, but she doesn’t answer. … I also have the receipt that she gave me when I paid and the other papers that she gave me when I paid … that said she did our taxes, but she did not.”
A hearing was set in Saraos’ case for July 26, 2023, but process servers were unable to find Slone to serve her with the court summons.
Hilo District Judge Kanani Laubach set a second hearing for Aug. 23, 2023. Slone again was a no-show for the proceedings, and Saraos told the judge, according to court records, that she didn’t want to pursue the matter further.
Laubach dismissed the case without prejudice and waived the filing fee for the small claims case, should Saraos decide to refile the complaint.
Those with potential theft complaints to be investigated can call the police nonemergency number at (808) 935-3311. Business complaints can be filed with the DCCA online at https://cca.hawaii.gov/businesscheck/.
