When a Lewisville woman showed up at a tax preparation company looking for a $4,000 refund she says she never received, she found a locked door and a receptionist hiding behind a desk.
Teresa Strafford said she went to Invidia Tax Immigration and Consulting Group LLC in North Dallas last year to do her taxes.
She said she gave them her financial information but her taxes were filed without her knowledge or approval.
She later learned the IRS had issued her a $4,000 refund.
"I was like, 'I didn't get it,'” she said. “They were like, 'It was wired to your account.' I'm like, 'No it hasn't.'"
Strafford said her preparer was company founder Nevada Alexander.
NBC 5 uncovered records showing that Alexander is a convicted felon who has four active warrants for her arrest.
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The warrants are for probation violations for previous cases involving forgery and false statements, according to the Dallas County Sheriff’s office.
Records show Alexander violated probation by not paying required fees, doing community service and checking in with her probation officer.
Strafford said she went to the Invidia office on Preston Road in North Dallas, which has since closed.
After our first story ran last week, NBC 5 Investigates received several tips that there is another Invidia office in Irving, near Highway 183 and Valley View.
That is where Strafford went on Monday to demand answers.
"I have not stopped,” Strafford said outside the locked office. “There has not been a month that I have not tried to communicate with them, letting them know that I would like my money."
Rhonda Clay, an office manager for Invidia in Irving, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that she hopes to work with Strafford to figure out what happened and make things right.
Clay also said Nevada Alexander does not work at the Irving location and that the Irving and previous North Dallas locations are separate.
So where is Nevada Alexander now?
Publicly-posted Instagram photos show her in Las Vegas this weekend apparently attending a birthday party.
When Invidia registered with the IRS to file people's taxes electronically, the company listed an address in Alvarado. The Irving location is not listed.
The Alvarado address is a vacant building with broken and boarded up windows.
"I don't know where to go from here,” Strafford said. “I guess come another day, see if the door is open another day. That's all you can do."
