FARMINGTON — A Kaysville woman has been charged with allegedly defrauding friends and relatives by offering to do their taxes for free and then pocketing much of the refunds.

The Davis County Attorney’s Office first charged Trina Semon, 39, three years ago with allegedly skimming more than a combined $20,000 from several victims in 2014 through 2017. And in new charging documents filed Friday in 2nd District Court, prosecutors alleged Semon overall stole more than $50,000 in the cases and allegedly tampered with witnesses, urging them not to talk to investigators.

In probable cause statements, county sheriff’s office investigators alleged that Semon had the Internal Revenue Service deposit portions of the refunds into her personal accounts and the rest to the taxpayers’. “She did this without the victims’ knowledge or permission, depriving them of much of their tax refunds,” according to an affidavit.

In a 2018 incident, Sermon allegedly told a taxpayer not to cash a $3,000 check when the IRS sent it. Semon met with the person, allegedly took the check from her, “warning her that if she cashed it, she would be audited the following year. Semon then went and cashed it herself,” charging documents said.

Investigators said in the charges filed Friday that 13 more alleged victims have been identified.

Overall, Semon is charged with two counts of communications fraud, one a second-degree felony and the other a third-degree, six counts of third-degree felony theft by deception, two counts of third-degree felony witness tampering and one misdemeanor theft by deception count.

Semon has pleaded not guilty to all of the 2019 charges. She does not yet have an attorney of record on the charges filed Friday. She is held without bail in the county jail in Farmington.

Newsletter