Markitta Washington, Identity Theft, Michigan 2024

Two individuals have been charged with stealing the personal information of more than 1,400 people in a massive identity theft and false income tax return scheme in Michigan.

An indictment was unsealed on May 20, 2024 charging Markitta Washington, 29, of Hampton, Georgia, and previously of Farmington Hills, Michigan, and Martez Lear, 29, of Farmington Hills, with multiple counts of identity theft-related crimes.

According to the indictment, Washington, who worked for Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital and DMC Harper Hospital, removed patient records, including Personal Identifying Information (PII) and used that information to file false tax returns in other people’s names.

During the execution of a search warrant at a residence shared by Washington and Lear, personal information belonging to approximately 1,400 people was recovered. The information included individuals’ names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers. Counterfeit and re-encoded credit cards and gift cards were also recovered.

The indictment alleges that at least 305 victims whose PII was stolen had false tax returns filed on their behalf for tax years 2011 and 2012, resulting in a loss to the Internal Revenue Service of approximately $489,000. Most of the refunds were sent using prepaid debit cards, some of which were recovered from the home shared by Washington and Lear.

Washington was arrested in Georgia, where she appeared in court and was released on a personal bond to appear in court in the Eastern District of Michigan for arraignment on the charges. Lear is currently serving a sentence in the Michigan Department of Corrections for gun-related charges.

The case was investigated by the Southeast Michigan Financial and Cyber Crimes Task Force, which is based at the Novi Police Department and includes U.S. Secret Service, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and IRS Criminal Investigations agents, as well as state and local law enforcement officers from the West Bloomfield, Novi, Royal Oak, Southfield, and Troy Police Departments.

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