Eric W. King, Theft of Government Money and ID Theft, Texas 2018

A Houston man has been ordered to prison following his convictions of theft of government money and aggravated identity theft.

Eric W. King, 49, of Houston, pleaded guilty to these crimes on May 29, 2018.

The court found that King, along with co-defendant Theresa K. Goffney, 46, of Rosharon, submitted a total of 179 fraudulent tax returns requesting refunds in the amount of $888,261.

The defendants admitted they unlawfully acquired the personal identifying information (PII) of others, such as name, date of birth, Social Security number, and address.

They then used the unlawfully acquired PII to file fraudulent tax returns in the victims' names, with the refunds directed to bank accounts the conspirators opened and controlled, checks mailed to addresses they controlled, or loaded onto prepaid debit cards they had purchased.

In total, King was sentenced to 65 months in prison, consisting of 41 months for the conspiracy and a consecutive 24 months for the identity theft. He was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release following his sentence and must pay $29,264 in restitution.

Co-defendant Theresa K. Goffney will be sentenced on Friday, March 15.

The investigation was conducted by the IRS - CI, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Hileman is prosecuting the case.

King was permitted to remain on bond and will voluntarily surrender to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdtx/pr/local-man-sentenced-fraud-and-id-theft