Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Nonviolent Measures Prevail in Case Involving Phony IRS Agent

You could make the assumption that since Sherry Lynn Vertoch was merely posing as an IRS agent that the hoteliers didn’t have any cause to take any violent action. Had she actually been an IRS agent we probably could have expected some sort of shooting, bombing, plane-crashing or torture performed for the sake of American tradition.

A woman who racked up two years of unpaid lodging in Novato while posing as a federal tax agent was granted probation by a federal judge Tuesday and ordered to pay $55,000 to the hotel owners.Sherry Lynn Vertoch pleaded guilty in February to impersonating a federal officer. Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco accepted a recommendation by federal prosecutors and Vertoch’s lawyer to place her on supervised probation for five years rather than sending her to prison.

Fake IRS agent told to pay $55,000 hotel bill [SF Chronicle]

Hotel Doesn’t Like Being Duped by a Phony IRS Agent; Manages a Nonviolent Response

About a month ago we briefly mentioned Sheryl Lynn Vertoch who had been “staying at the Inn Marin Hotel in Novato, California for over seven years telling the staff there that she was an IRS agent.” Her cover was blown, not by hotel pool boys turned crack-squad investigators, but by the hotel calling the IRS to complain about their lack of support for this public servant that worked on important cases such as Enron.

Probably feeling a tad sheepish, the hotel is firing back by suing SLV for the $55,175.25 that she owes the hotel.


The hotel, being very thorough of its records (but not necessarily multi-year guests) attached a 24 page invoice to show the charges that Vertoch racked up for “guest fees, expenses and pet charges” from January 21, 2008, to January 26, 2010.

Somehow the hotel’s management/owners/lawyers came to the conclusion that A) the actual IRS wasn’t the cause of the problem and B) the use of a plane, bulldozer or firearm were simply not the best course of action.

Personally, we’re shocked but at the same time relieved that there is a sliver of sanity left in this country.

Novato hotel wants IRS imposter to pay $55,000 tab [Mercury News]
Earlier:
Phony IRS Agent Racks Up $55k Hotel Bill