A U.S. Postal Service mail carrier has been convicted in a stolen identity tax refund scheme that netted over $2.5 million in fraudulent refunds.
According to evidence presented at trial, Harold Coley, 52, worked as a mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service in Columbus, Georgia. In 2012, he was recruited by Keshia Lanier to participate in the scheme.
Coley collected addresses on his route, including many that did not exist or related to vacant buildings, and provided them to Lanier and others for the purpose of filing fraudulent tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Lanier obtained many of the stolen identities from Tamika Floyd, who worked for the Alabama Department of Public Health. The stolen identities primarily belonged to 16 and 17-year-olds.
Lanier and others directed the IRS to mail the tax refund checks to the addresses Coley provided. In exchange for cash, Coley intercepted the fraudulently obtained refund checks and provided them to Lanier and others.
In total, Coley’s co-conspirators directed over 1,600 refund checks claiming more than $2.5 million to addresses on his postal route. Lanier and Floyd were previously sentenced to 15 years and more than seven years in prison for their roles in the scheme.
U.S. District Court Judge Clay D. Land scheduled sentencing for Dec. 19. Coley faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for the conspiracy count, 20 years in prison for each count of mail fraud, and 5 years in prison for each count of embezzlement of the mail.
Coley also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, forfeiture, and monetary penalties.
Key Facts
- State: Georgia
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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