Miami Dade Students, Target Employees Plead Guilty in Identity Theft Tax Fraud Scheme

Five Miami Dade College students, including three employees of Target, have pleaded guilty to their involvement in a sophisticated identity theft tax refund fraud scheme that targeted student financial services accounts.

The defendants, Andy Lamour, 22, Tamica Smith, 26, Marie Joseph, 25, Gerrey Cherrelus, 22, and Sandy Jean-Louis, 21, all from Miami, have each admitted to one count of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and one count of theft of government property or money. They face up to five years in prison for the conspiracy charge and up to ten years for the theft charge.

According to court documents, the scheme operated between April 17, 2012, and January 24, 2013. The defendants, including Emmanuel Avrilien, 22, of Miami, filed a total of 139 fraudulent tax returns that directed refunds into their accounts. Avrilien paid them for allowing access to their accounts. He also paid Lamour to recruit others.

The scheme came to light when tax refunds were deposited and withdrawn from accounts at ATMs and through counter withdrawals. The defendants are scheduled for sentencing on March 26, 2015, while Avrilien’s trial is set to begin on May 4, 2015.

United States Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the Identity Theft Tax Refund Strike Force, including the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI). Assistant U.S. Attorney Gera Peoples is handling the prosecution.

For more information, visit the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls, or the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.