A 50-year-old Brooksville woman has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for her role in a brazen identity theft scheme.
Connie Lee, a resident of Brooksville, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Susan C. Bucklew after pleading guilty to theft of government funds and aggravated identity theft.
According to court documents, Lee filed a fraudulent federal income tax return in the name of her son, and received the corresponding tax refund check at her residence. But that was just the beginning of the scheme.
Lee then bribed her grandson to steal her son’s personal identification documents, and took her nephew to a local bank, where she presented the stolen identification to bank personnel and duped her nephew into impersonating her son in order to open a bank account.
Lee then deposited the fraudulent tax refund check into the bank account and withdrew all of the funds for her own use. But that was not the only scheme she was involved in. Lee also assisted another individual in cashing a fraudulent tax refund check at the same bank, and was paid for her assistance in that scheme.
As part of her sentence, the court also entered a money judgment in the amount of $21,402 against Lee, who must now serve out her two-year prison sentence.
This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, the Brooksville Police Department, and the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Josephine W. Thomas prosecuted the case.
Related Federal Cases
- Butler Admits to Tax Fraud & Identity Theft · Florida
- Mozie II Nabbed in $233K Identity Theft Scam · Florida
- Llanos Gets 81 Months for Massive Identity Theft · Florida
- Delray Beach Fraudster Groover Faces Decades After Third Identity Theft · Florida
- Dale Gets 10 Years in $2M Identity Theft Scam · Arkansas
Key Facts
- State: Florida
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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