Andrea W. White Gets 26 Months for Tax Fraud Scheme

Andrea W. White, 46, of Jackson, Miss., is headed to federal prison for 26 months after masterminding a tax refund scam that bled the U.S. Treasury of nearly $200,000. White pleaded guilty to mail fraud and aggravated identity theft, crimes rooted in a calculated scheme to file 100 fraudulent federal income tax returns using stolen personal information.

U.S. District Judge Robert G. James handed down the sentence Monday in Monroe, La., also imposing three years of supervised release and ordering White to pay $195,296 in restitution. The fraud spanned from January 6, 2012, to September 25, 2012, during which White electronically submitted false returns, many of them in the names of unsuspecting victims whose identities she had illegally obtained.

Refunds were funneled to four post office boxes in Tallulah, La., where White could collect them without immediate detection. One IRS refund check—issued on April 27, 2012—was mailed to one of those boxes in the name of an innocent taxpayer and totaled $5,454. White intercepted and cashed the check, directly benefiting from stolen funds.

The scheme collapsed under scrutiny from federal investigators with the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Agents traced the fraudulent filings, linked them to the PO boxes, and ultimately identified White as the architect of the operation. Evidence showed repeated patterns of falsified W-2s and inflated withholdings designed solely to trigger IRS payouts.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Cytheria D. Jernigan prosecuted the case, emphasizing the brazen nature of the fraud: “This wasn’t a mistake or an error on a tax form. This was a deliberate, large-scale theft using the identities of real people to steal from the system.”

White’s 26-month sentence underscores federal crackdowns on identity theft and tax fraud—crimes that not only cost taxpayers millions but also erode trust in financial institutions. The restitution order ensures she’ll remain financially accountable long after her prison term ends.

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