Jacksonville, Florida - U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Corrigan has sentenced two Jacksonville women for conspiracy to defraud the United States and aggravated identity theft. Laura Butler was sentenced to two years and one month in federal prison and Cherica Daniels was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment.
Butler pleaded guilty on March 6, 2015, and Daniels pleaded guilty on Feb. 25, 2015.
According to court documents, in 2011, Butler worked at Blue Cross Blue Shield Florida and had access to personal identifying information. During her employment, she accessed several subscribers’ identities and later used them to file false and fraudulent income tax returns. Daniels also participated in the scheme to prepare and file false and fraudulent tax returns. During her initial encounter with law enforcement, Daniels had a black bag containing more than 200 identities, including more than 15 social security numbers.
The case was investigated by The Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kelly S. Karase.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
