DALLAS - Following a three-day trial before U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle, a federal jury convicted Jeffrey Sila, 32, a citizen of Nairobi, Kenya, yesterday on two counts of theft of public funds and one count of aggravated identity theft, announced U.S. Attorney John R. Parker of the Northern District of Texas.
Sila is to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle on Jan. 11, 2018. The maximum statutory penalty for the identity theft count is a mandatory term of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum statutory penalty for the theft of public funds counts are a maximum statutory penalty of ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sila has been in custody since the time of his arrest in September 2016.
The government presented evidence at trial that Sila illegally obtained a $76,592.86 United States Treasury check payable to an individual identified as C.S. that had been issued on a federal income tax return filed electronically from Kenya. On August 9, 2016, Sila delivered the treasury check to an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation (CI) undercover agent in exchange for $48,000. Sila was arrested on Sept. 11, 2016, at Los Angeles airport as he attempted to board a flight to Nairobi, Kenya. Sila was also convicted of the theft of another treasury refund check that had been issued on an electronically filed return filed in 2012.
The case was investigated by IRS-CI. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Stokes and Sid Mody are prosecuting.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
