FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Alabama Woman Pleads Guilty in Stolen Identity Tax Refund Fraud Case
Jacqueline Slaton pleaded guilty today in the Middle District of Alabama to one count of filing a false tax return and one count of aggravated identity theft, the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. Slaton was indicted in April 2012.
According to her plea agreement, between December 2011 and March 2012, Slaton filed at least 102 fraudulent federal and state income tax returns using stolen identities, claiming a total of $154,904 in fraudulent income tax refunds. Slaton had the tax refunds directed to prepaid debit cards and had the cards mailed to various addresses on a U.S. carrier’s route. A postal employee agreed to collect the prepaid debit cards for a fee.
Sentencing has not yet been scheduled. Slaton faces a mandatory minimum of two years in prison, and a maximum potential sentence of seven years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, mandatory restitution and a fine of up to $500,000 or twice the loss caused by her offenses.
Kathryn Keneally, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division, thanked special agents of IRS - Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Tax Division Trial Attorneys Jason H. Poole and Michael Boteler and Assistant United States Attorney Jared Morris, who prosecuted the case.
No comments:
Post a Comment