A Plantation resident pled guilty for his participation in a scheme utilizing stolen identities to commit income tax, unemployment, and credit card frauds.
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), Rafiq Ahmad, Special Agent in Charge, United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations Miami Office (DOL-OIG), Neil Melofchik, Acting Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Secret Service (USSS), Miami Field Office, and John E. Brooks, Chief, Sunrise Police Department, made the announcement.
Leonce V. Jeudy, 24, pled guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 841(a)(1), two counts of access device fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1029(a)(2) and 1029(a)(3), and one count of aggravated identity theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028A. At sentencing, the defendant faces a maximum statutory sentence of twenty years in prison for the possession with intent to distribute controlled substances charge, ten years in prison for each of the access device charges, and a mandatory term of two years in prison, consecutive to any other term of imprisonment, for the aggravated identity theft charge.
According to court documents, on January 7, 2015, a detective with the Sunrise Police Department initiated a traffic stop of a vehicle driven by Jeudy. After smelling the odor of marijuana emanating from the vehicle, the detective conducted a search of the car and found a loaded handgun, ammunition, approximately twenty credit cards in various names, new iPhones and iPads, bank records of an unrelated individual, and receipts of four Visa debit cards purchased earlier that day for approximately $2,000.
Police officers obtained a state search warrant for Jeudy’s residence. During the execution of the warrant, officers found more than 100 credit and debit cards in the names of various individuals, numerous documents with the personally identifying information (“PII") of different individuals, along with various electronic devices including numerous computers, thumb drives, and cellular telephones. The officers also recovered from an AK-47 rifle, hundreds of rounds of different caliber ammunition, butylone, ethylone (commonly known as “Mollys"), several smaller packages of powder and crack cocaine, and other drug paraphernalia.
Subsequent forensic analysis by federal law enforcement revealed more than 8,000 sets of PII were found on the recovered digital devices. In addition, an analysis revealed that some of the recovered debit cards had received approximately $30,000 in fraudulent income tax refunds and were associated with fraudulent unemployment insurance claims. Law enforcement further determined that Jeudy was responsible for filing unemployment insurance benefits claims totaling $100,000.
Jeudy is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 22, 2015 at 9:30 a.m. before United States District Judge Beth Bloom.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of IRS-CI, DOL-OIG, USSS, and the Sunrise Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Kobrinski.
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
