A Palm Beach County resident was charged for her participation in a stolen identity tax fraud scheme involving at least 790 stolen identities.
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Kelly R. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), and Karen Citizen-Wilcox, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General (USDA-OIG), made the announcement.
Starling Willis, 32, of West Palm Beach, was charged by information with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349, and one count of aggravated identity theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028A and 2. If convicted, Willis faces a maximum of twenty years in prison for the conspiracy charge, and a mandatory term of two years’ imprisonment, consecutive to any other prison term, for the aggravated identity theft charge.
Willis is alleged to have participated in fraudulent activity with two defendants charged in a separate superseding indictment, Latonia Verdell, 40, and Kelli Witherspoon McIntosh, 39, both of Palm Beach County (Case No. 14-CR-80158).
According to the information and other publicly filed court documents, Verdell recruited and led her co-conspirators, including Willis and McIntosh, in a widespread stolen identity refund fraud scheme involving at least 790 stolen identities and personal identification information (PII). This PII was used to file fraudulent income tax returns online, with those refunds being directed to various bank accounts created and maintained by Verdell, McIntosh and Willis, as well as to reloadable debit cards. Identity theft victims whose personal information was used for this scheme spanned from Indian River, Highlands, St. Lucie, Martin and Palm Beach Counties, as well as persons outside the State of Florida. This scheme resulted in the submission to the IRS of more than 590 fraudulent returns in the names of other persons, seeking approximately $1.5 million in fraudulent income tax refunds.
As part of the overall schemes to defraud the IRS, Willis allegedly allowed Verdell to use her personal bank accounts to receive payments of tax refunds from fraudulent income tax returns. Willis allegedly opened additional bank accounts, at various banks, expressly for the purpose of receiving some of the fraudulent tax refund payments. Willis would then withdraw the monies and share them with Verdell.
Court documents further allege that evidence of the stolen PII, a list of bank accounts belonging to Willis, information regarding accounts which received fraudulent refunds, and a stolen.38 caliber pistol, were found in Verdell’s home during the execution of a federal search warrant.
Trial is scheduled for Verdell and McIntosh on October 5, 2015. The Court has not yet scheduled a trial date for Willis.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the IRS-CI, and USDA-OIG. Mr. Ferrer also thanked the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office for their assistance in the lengthy investigation and ultimate arrests. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Theodore Cooperstein.
An information or indictment is merely an allegation, and every defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
