William Anthony Gosha III, Stolen Identity Tax Refund Fraud, AL 2024

Phenix City resident William Anthony Gosha III, a/k/a Boo Boo, was sentenced today to 30 years in federal prison for masterminding a multi-million-dollar stolen identity tax refund fraud (SIRF) operation that ripped off the IRS for $9 million. The sentence, handed down in Montgomery, Alabama, caps a years-long investigation into one of the largest identity theft rings ever prosecuted in the Middle District of Alabama.

Gosha was convicted following a November 2017 jury trial on one count of conspiracy, 22 counts of mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud, and 25 counts of aggravated identity theft. The evidence at trial laid bare a sprawling criminal enterprise that spanned from 2010 to 2013, during which Gosha and his co-conspirators—including Tracy Mitchell, Keshia Lanier, and Tamika Floyd, all now imprisoned—filed over 8,800 fraudulent tax returns seeking more than $22 million in refunds.

The scheme began in November 2010 when Gosha stole inmate identification records from the Alabama Department of Corrections and funneled them to Keshia Lanier, who used the data to file fake returns. The pair split the illicit proceeds. Gosha later stole employee records from a Columbus, Georgia company, expanding the pool of stolen identities. When Lanier needed more data, she turned to Tamika Floyd, who worked at Alabama state agencies in Opelika and had access to personal information—including that of teenagers. Floyd supplied thousands of identities, especially of 16- and 17-year-olds, at Lanier’s request.

With a growing supply of stolen data, Gosha recruited Tracy Mitchell, who worked at a hospital on Fort Benning, Georgia. Mitchell accessed the personal information of military personnel—including soldiers deployed to Afghanistan—and used those identities to file additional fraudulent returns. The conspirators then created sham tax preparation businesses, obtaining Electronic Filing Identification Numbers (EFIN) from the IRS to electronically submit the fake filings and secure refund-related bank products, including blank check stock.

When financial institutions blocked their ability to print refund checks, Gosha’s crew turned to corruption within the U.S. Postal Service. Postal employees were paid cash to provide mailing addresses on their routes and then intercept the fraudulent checks before delivery. Gosha also rerouted refunds to prepaid debit cards shipped to addresses he controlled, creating a streamlined pipeline for cashing in on stolen identities. The operation was brazen, adaptive, and ruthlessly efficient.

In a separate but related scheme, between January 2010 and December 2013, Gosha sold stolen Alabama inmate IDs to Pamela Smith and others, who filed false returns seeking $4.8 million in refunds—$1.85 million of which the IRS paid out. Smith has since been convicted and sentenced. At sentencing, the government presented victim impact statements from individuals whose lives were upended by the fraud, underscoring the human toll behind the staggering dollar figures.