KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - On Aug. 11, 2015, James Glenn Collins, Jr., 48, of Knoxville, Tenn., was sentenced to serve 84 months in prison for conspiracy to defraud the government by filing false income tax returns. Collins pleaded guilty to a federal indictment in January 2015.
According to the plea agreement on file with the U.S. District Court, while incarcerated in a Tennessee correctional facility, Collins was able to obtain Personal Identification Information (PII), including social security numbers and dates of birth, on numerous individuals and used this information to create and file fraudulent tax returns. Collins employed the use of friends and family to receive the refund checks and cash them, which is described in detail in the plea agreement. The attempted tax refunds totaled $993,576, and the actual amount of loss to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was approximately $150,464.67.
Others involved in this conspiracy include: Tenna Allison, 59, of Knoxville, Tenn., who pleaded guilty to theft of public money and was sentenced to five years of probation; James Scott Huskey, 52, of Knoxville, Tenn., pleaded guilty to theft of public money and was sentenced to serve five years of probation; Natosha Nicole Cooper, 29, of Knoxville, Tenn., pleaded guilty to theft of public money and was sentenced to serve six months in prison and six month of house arrest, followed by three years of supervised release; and Mona Griffith, 56, of Nesbit, Miss., pleaded guilty to theft of public money and was sentenced to serve three years of probation.
In addition to his prison sentence, Collins was ordered to pay $150,464.67 in restitution to the IRS jointly and severally with Allison, Huskey, Cooper and Griffith.
This investigation was conducted by the IRS- Criminal Investigation and U.S. Secret Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Kolman represented the United States.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
