Defendant’s mother, a postal employee, provided him with stolen tax refund checks from the mail
A Miami resident was sentenced to 24 months in prison, to be followed by four years of supervised release, for his participation in stolen identity tax fraud scheme.
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), Max Eamiguel, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General (USPS-OIG), Rick Maglione, Chief, Fort Lauderdale Police Department, and Timothy Camus, Deputy Inspector General for Investigations, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), made the announcement.
David Earl Tucker, 30, of Miami, previously pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, and one count of aggravated identity theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section l028A(a)(1).
According to court documents, during a traffic stop of a vehicle that Tucker was driving, the defendant presented law enforcement with a fake Texas driver's license in another person's name. Tucker was taken into custody, and a tax refund Treasury check in another individual’s name was found during an inventory search of the vehicle. Further investigation revealed that the tax refund check was stolen by a postal employee, Tara Marshea Tucker, 47, of Miami, the mother of David Tucker.
According to court records, Tara Tucker stole mail while in the performance of her duties as a postal employee. On separate occasions, Tara removed two tax refund Treasury checks and gave them to her son, David Tucker. Tara Tucker was supposed to receive a percentage of each check that she gave to her son. Tara Tucker improperly removed a total of 4 to 5 checks from the mail stream.
Tara Tucker previously pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371. On Nov. 2, 2016, Tara Tucker was sentenced to 4 months in prison and 4 months of home confinement, to be followed by two years of supervised release.
The intended loss amount for the scheme was $12,139.16.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of IRS-CI, USPS-OIG, Fort Lauderdale Police Department and TIGTA. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joshua S. Rothstein, Ilham A. Hosseini and Anne P. McNamara.
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
