BOSTON – Erick Santiago-Then, 36, of Lawrence, Massachusetts, is headed to federal prison after being sentenced to 22 months for a brazen scheme to defraud the IRS while posing as a cooperative informant. Santiago-Then wasn’t just failing to help the feds; he was actively working against them, lining his pockets with money earmarked for a legitimate investigation.
The case, revealed in a U.S. Attorney’s Office announcement, details how Santiago-Then, a paid cooperator for the IRS’s Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) division, was tasked with infiltrating a stolen identity refund fraud ring in February 2014. He was given funds to purchase fraudulently-obtained tax refund checks from a perpetrator in a controlled meeting. Instead of following orders, Santiago-Then orchestrated a sham meeting with an accomplice, using the money to acquire a list of personal identifying information – not the checks he was supposed to secure.
But the deception didn’t stop there. Santiago-Then then fabricated a series of recorded phone calls. He had his accomplice impersonate another individual, creating a false narrative about a supposed mix-up concerning the tax refund checks. This elaborate ruse was designed to cover his tracks and mislead IRS-CI investigators. He split the IRS-CI funds with his accomplice, essentially stealing from the agency he was supposedly assisting.
Federal authorities finally caught on, leading to Santiago-Then’s indictment and subsequent October 2017 guilty plea to 10 counts of falsifying records in a federal investigation. U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs handed down the 22-month sentence, along with three years of supervised release and an order to pay $10,124 in restitution to the IRS.
The investigation was a multi-agency effort, involving the U.S. Attorney’s Office, IRS-CI, the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Federal Bureau of Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan M. DiSantis, of the Public Corruption Unit, led the prosecution. Stephen A. Marks, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service, Boston Field Office, was among those announcing the sentence.
This case serves as a stark reminder that even those working *with* law enforcement are not above the law. Santiago-Then’s attempt to exploit a federal investigation for personal gain backfired spectacularly, landing him in prison and forcing him to repay the stolen funds. It’s a dirty game, and he lost.
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Key Facts
- Agency: U.S. Secret Service
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Press Release
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