Montgomery, Alabama - Chequlia Motley of Montgomery, Ala., was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison yesterday for conspiracy and aggravated identity theft, Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama George L. Beck, Jr., announced. Motley had previously pleaded guilty to those charges in May.
According to Motley’s plea agreement, she was a former state employee who stole identities from state databases and sold them to co-conspirators. As the sentencing hearing showed, Motley had previously worked for the Alabama State Employees’ Insurance Board and stole the personal information of over 100 state workers and their family members from the databases maintained by the Board. She provided this information to Veronica Temple, Yolanda Moses, and Barbara Murry, who used the stolen identities to file false tax returns that fraudulently requested tax refunds from the IRS. Temple, Moses, and Murry were previously convicted and each sentenced to 57 months in prison in February.
In addition to the sentence of imprisonment, Motley was ordered to pay $179,946 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
The case was investigated by agents of the IRS - Criminal Investigation. Trial Attorneys Michael Boteler and Jason Poole of the Justice Department’s Tax Division prosecuted the case, with the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama and, in particular, Assistant United States Attorney Todd Brown.
Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found at justice.gov/tax.
PRESS CONTACT: Clark Morris
Email: usaalm.press@usdoj.gov
Telephone: (334) 551-1755
Fax: (334) 223-7617
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
