Antolin Julio Nazario, a 35-year-old Houston man, has been sentenced to 92 months in federal prison for masterminding a massive stolen identity refund fraud scheme that ripped off the IRS for over $800,000 and victimized more than 800 unsuspecting Americans. The hard-fought conviction, handed down by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt, marks a significant blow against organized financial fraud operating in the Texas underground.
Nazario, also known as Robinson Gomez Churon, pleaded guilty on April 27, 2015, to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. His wife, Thalia Diaz Camareno, 30, followed suit on October 5, 2015, pleading guilty to the same conspiracy charge. Both admitted to orchestrating a two-year scam from June 2010 to January 2012, flooding the IRS with hundreds of falsified tax returns using stolen Social Security numbers and personal data harvested from real individuals.
The scheme was cold, calculated, and shockingly efficient. Using aliases—Nazario as Robinson Gomez Churon and Camareno as Irene Carrero Echevarria—the couple filed fake returns through the U.S. Postal Service, directing IRS refunds to checks mailed to compromised addresses. Once in hand, the Treasury checks were cashed or used to buy goods, fueling a criminal enterprise built entirely on the identities of others. The total potential loss to the government: $4,095,959.
Of that staggering sum, the IRS confirmed it paid out more than $800,000 in fraudulent refunds—money that will now be sought through a court-ordered restitution of $807,096, levied directly on Nazario. He will serve three years of supervised release following his prison term and remains in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility.
Camareno, who remains free on bond, is scheduled for sentencing next week. While her ultimate punishment is pending, prosecutors have made clear the couple operated as co-conspirators in a fraud ring that exploited systemic vulnerabilities in tax processing for personal gain. Their actions didn’t just defraud the government—they shattered the financial security of hundreds of victims whose names were hijacked without consent.
The investigation was led by a joint task force of IRS-Criminal Investigation, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the U.S. Secret Service—agencies increasingly aligned in combating sophisticated financial crime. Assistant U.S. Attorney Suzanne Elmilady prosecuted the case, underscoring federal resolve to crack down on identity theft rings operating in cities like Houston, where such fraud often flourishes in the shadows of economic disparity.
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Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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