Bowie Man Pleads Guilty to Identity Theft Scheme

A resident of Bowie, Maryland, Marc A. Bell, 49, a former employee of the District of Columbia’s Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS), has pleaded guilty to federal charges for his involvement in a far-reaching identity theft and tax fraud scheme.

According to court documents, the scheme involved the filing of at least 12,000 fraudulent federal income tax returns that sought refunds of at least $40 million from the U.S. Treasury. The false tax returns sought refunds for tax years 2005 through 2013 and were often filed in the names of people whose identities had been stolen, including the elderly, people in assisted living facilities, drug addicts and incarcerated prisoners.

Bell is one of approximately 15 people who have pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for their roles in this scheme. His guilty plea involves the filing of fraudulent federal income tax returns that sought more than $4.4 million in refunds, announced U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips, Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, Special Agent in Charge Thomas Jankowski of the Washington Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Inspector in Charge David G. Bowers of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s (USPIS) Washington, D.C., Division, and Assistant Inspector General for Investigations John L. Phillips of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The scheme involved an extensive network of more than 130 people, many of whom were receiving public assistance. The refunds listed more than 400 “taxpayer” addresses located in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. Bell admitted taking part in the massive and sophisticated identity theft and false tax return scheme.

“This investigation has successfully targeted two serious crimes that cause great financial harm: identity theft and tax fraud,” said U.S. Attorney Phillips. “This defendant abused his position as a government employee to steal identifying information from young people who had no idea that their names were being used on fraudulent income tax returns. Like the many others prosecuted in this case, he was apprehended by law enforcement and brought to justice.”

“The prosecution of Stolen Identity Refund Fraud is one of the Tax Division’s top priorities,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo. “In addition to costing taxpayers millions of dollars in fraudulent refund claims each year, the perpetrators of these crimes often prey on our country’s most vulnerable citizens. This case is a prime example of the concerted and coordinated efforts of the department, the Internal Revenue Service, the Taxpayer Inspector General for Tax Administration, and our other federal and state law enforcement partners that are essential to combatting this epidemic of fraud.”

Bell was a public servant who was trusted to serve the taxpayers of the District of Columbia, but he violated that trust by stealing the identities of at least 645 youth and then passing the information to his partners in crime who filed over 12,000 federal income tax returns claiming refunds of over $40 million.

IRS-Criminal Investigation will continue to relentlessly pursue those who prey on innocent taxpayers to satisfy their greed and cheat the honest taxpayers who comply with the tax laws of our nation. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service aggressively investigates this type of criminal conduct, especially when it involves vulnerable populations.

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