The jail sentences continue to roll in for a gang of identity thieves. Today, U.S. District Court Judge Kristi K. DuBose sentenced Keisha Lanier, the ringleader in the scheme, to serve 15 years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release; she was detained immediately following the sentencing hearing. She was also ordered to forfeit $5,811,406.
Last month, Judge DuBose imposed lengthy sentences for eight defendants nabbed in the scheme, ranging from two years probation to 159 months in prison. In the months prior, Tamaica Hoskins, was sentenced to serve 145 months in prison while Tamika Floyd, a defendant who pleaded guilty in a related case, was sentenced to serve 87 months in prison.
“Today’s sentence brings to a close an extensive criminal network led by Keisha Lanier and designed to victimize U.S. citizens and defraud the U.S. Treasury of over $20 million in fraudulent refund claims,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo. “The substantial sentences imposed on Ms. Lanier and her co-defendants send a clear message that those who chose to engage in such criminal conduct will pay a very heavy price.”
Here’s how the scheme worked. Beginning in 2011, certain of the defendants stole identities from Alabama state agencies, including the Alabama Department of Corrections. Defendants also stole identities from a payment-processing company call center and corporate employee files while yet another, working at the U.S. Army hospital in Fort Benning, Georgia, stole identities of military personnel, including soldiers deployed in Afghanistan.
The defendants next created sham tax businesses to help process false tax returns claiming refunds, going so far as to obtain IRS Electronic Filing Identification Numbers (EFNs) in the names of those businesses. Using that information, the defendants worked with financial institutions to obtain blank check stocks used to print refund checks. The defendants also obtained anticipated tax refunds via prepaid debit cards and U.S. Treasury checks using the stolen identities.
When the financial institutions wouldn’t allow the defendants to print out any more tax refund checks, the defendants changed tack, recruiting U.S. Postal Service employees to assist in their fraud. Those recruited postal workers turned over the bogus U.S. Treasury checks to the defendants sent through the U.S. mail – for a fee.
Using these maneuvers, the defendants were able to obtain nearly $10 million in fraudulent tax refunds. To cash the checks, the defendants engaged in a massive check cashing scheme. At least one defendant, Sharondra Johnson, worked at the Walmart money center in Columbus, where she cashed checks for customers as part of her job. Johnson agreed to cash the bogus refund checks and hide the fraud from Walmart.
Stopping the defendants was a joint effort with Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo and U.S. Attorney Beck Jr. acting together with special agents at Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and the U.S. Army-CID. Chief Richard Weber of IRS-CI said, about the punishment:
Today’s sentencing of Keisha Lanier, who conspired with others to use the identities of American service members and hospital patients to enrich themselves by stealing tax refunds, demonstrates the depths of how far criminals will stoop and the extent to which IRS-CI will go to fight identity theft. We will use every available resource in collaboration with our law enforcement partners to combat these serious crimes.
Director Daniel Andrews of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command’s (CID) Computer Crime Investigative Unit followed up, saying, “This sentencing demonstrates our firm commitment to hold accountable those who commit fraud or otherwise steal from our government. Special agents from our Computer Crime Investigative Unit, along with our federal law enforcement counterparts, are unwavering in our commitment to seek out and hold responsible all those who conduct criminal activity against the United States Army and the American taxpayer.”
