Tampa, Florida - Acting United States Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow announces that Obenson Cerulist (27, Sarasota) has pleaded guilty to theft of government property. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to the plea agreement, in September 2013, a search warrant was executed at a home in Bradenton that Cerulist was sharing with Brandon Taylor. Based on evidence of narcotics activity found during the search, Cerulist pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 41 months’ imprisonment. In addition to narcotics, more than 250 items of personal identifying information (PII) belonging to others was found in the home. In February 2014, a second search warrant was executed at the home of Cerulist’s girlfriend, Loretta Gilchrist, where Cerulist occasionally stayed. PII was also found in Gilchrest’s home, along with prepaid debit cards and additional evidence linking Cerulist to the filing of fraudulent tax returns.
The direct loss to the Internal Revenue Service from the fraudulent tax returns filed during the course of this scheme was $156,399.39. The total amount claimed as a result of fraudulent tax returns was $571,708.
Taylor and Gilchrist were also prosecuted for their roles in this scheme. On Aug. 2, 2016, Taylor was sentenced to 32 months in federal prison for theft of government funds. On Feb. 28, 2017, Gilchrist was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for theft of government funds.
This case was investigated by Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Adam M. Saltzman.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
