PHILADELPHIA - U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain announced than an indictment was unsealed today charging Concepcion Cedano, 48, of Camden, New Jersey with one count of criminal conspiracy to commit theft of public funds and one count of theft of public funds.
According to the indictment, Cedano and her co-conspirators engaged in a scheme to steal public money by obtaining federal refund checks fraudulently caused to be issued by the United States Treasury. Cedano deposited at least 60 fraudulent refund checks into five bank accounts under her control, resulting in a theft of $298,779.52 from the United States government.
If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of 15 years of imprisonment, two years of supervised release, a fine of $500,000, and a special assessment of $200.
The case was investigated by Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Priya De Souza.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
