IRS warns against tax return identity theft scams
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, announced late Friday that Michael Ali Bryant, Sr., and his wife, Latina Rashawn Bryant, both of Lauderdale Lakes, were sentenced for their participation in a stolen identity tax refund scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
Michael Bryant, 41, was sentenced to 144 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Latina Bryant, 43, was sentenced to 48 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.
Having previously pled guilty to one count of aggravated identity theft, Michael Bryant also pled guilty to one count of possession of fifteen or more unauthorized access devices.
Latina Bryant previously pled guilty to one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of using an unauthorized access device.
Co-defendant Marquis Onigirin Moye, 24, of Pompano Beach, was sentenced on March 28, 2014 to 54 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Moye previously pled guilty to one count of possession of fifteen or more unauthorized access devices, and one count of aggravated identity theft.
Co-defendants Tiffany Shenae Cooper, 33, of Deerfield Beach, and Angela Dione Rosier, 41, of Coral Springs, were sentenced on February 28, 2014. Cooper was sentenced to 57 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Rosier was sentenced to 49 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. The court also ordered both defendants to pay $129,390.06 in restitution to the IRS and the medical services provider whose database had been breached.
Cooper previously pled guilty to one count of possession of fifteen or more unauthorized access devices and one count of aggravated identity theft. Rosier previously pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud.
According to court records, a confidential source initially approached Michael Bryant and inquired about purchasing narcotics. Bryant told the operative that he did not have any narcotics but that he did have personal identity information that he was willing to sell. A controlled purchase of approximately 230 names was made.
Bryant instructed the operative on how to commit tax fraud and provided specific instructions on what information to enter into the web pages of the internet-based tax services to obtain a tax refund.
An examination of the records revealed that they were from a medical services provider.
Rosier was an employee of the medical services provider. Cooper spoke to Rosier to obtain user names and passwords for current employees of the medical services provider. Cooper admitted to illegally logging on to the medical services provider’s computer network and downloading personal information for the purpose of committing various types of fraud. She was assisted in her activities by Rosier and co-defendant Moye.
Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI and IRS-CI. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia R. Wood.