Final Defendants Sentenced for Stolen Identity Refund Fraud Scheme: On July 27, 2015, in Houston, Jason Maclaskey and Omar Butt were sentenced to serve 120 months and 40 months, respectively, for their roles in a scheme to steal identities and file fraudulent federal tax returns. A third defendant, Heather Dale, of Alabama, was previously sentenced to 24 months in prison. The court also ordered them to pay $314,868 in restitution. The defendants unlawfully obtained the names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers from 371 taxpayers and used this information to file false tax returns in 2009. The defendants also used this information to set up fraudulent bank accounts and directed the tax refunds to be sent to debit cards in the taxpayers’ names. The defendants then withdrew this money using the debit cards at ATMs and by making purchases at various retail stores. Through this conspiracy, the defendants claimed a total of more than $1.4 million in false tax refunds, succeeded in withdrawing more than $300,000 before the scheme was uncovered.
Florida Brothers Sentenced for Identity Theft Scheme: On July 31, 2015, in Miami, brothers Densom Beaucejour and Winzord Beaucejour were each sentenced to 70 months in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $553,204 in restitution. In January 2015, a police officer reported being a victim of identity theft and that a fraudulent unemployment insurance claim had been filed in his/her name. On March 11, 2015, law enforcement agents executed a search warrant at the defendants’ residence and found documents with the personal identifying information of more than 1,000 individuals. Agents also discovered three handguns, $8,600 in cash, and several credit cards embossed with names of individuals who did not appear to live at the residence. Approximately 365 fraudulent tax returns were filed with the IRS from the residence seeking $413,279 in fraudulent tax refunds, as well as two fraudulent Ohio state tax returns seeking $15,004. In total, the amount of intended loss is $917,973.
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