TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA - Kraig Antonio Davis, 23, of Tampa, Florida, was sentenced to serve 42 months in federal prison for tax fraud, mail fraud, and aggravated identity theft. Davis was also ordered to pay $77,081 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
He was involved in a scheme to use the personal identifying information of individuals, including their names, dates of birth, and social security numbers, to submit fraudulent income tax returns to the IRS. Davis conducted online searches to locate deceased victims’ personal information, which he used to file the false income tax returns. He then used victims’ information to obtain prepaid debit cards for the deposit of the fraudulently obtained refunds. He caused more than a dozen fraudulent refunds to be issued, resulting in a loss of approximately $77,081 to the IRS. Davis also filed a false income tax return in his own name resulting in a tax refund of $4,975.
U.S. Attorney Pamela Marsh said, “This office is committed to vigorously prosecuting those individuals who steal the identities of other individuals and use those stolen identities to fraudulently obtain large amounts of money from the Government. We have intensified our efforts, along with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, to identify and bring to justice those who seek to defraud the government and the taxpayers."
U.S. Attorney Marsh praised the work of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations, whose joint investigation led to the conviction in the case. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Winifred Acosta NeSmith as part of a Department of Justice initiative to fight stolen identity refund fraud (SIRF). In September 2012, the Department issued Tax Division Directive 144, which sets forth expedited Department review procedures for SIRF cases, enabling law enforcement to respond quickly and effectively to the grave challenges presented in SIRF cases and to prevent the victimization of innocent taxpayers whose identities are stolen by fraudsters.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
