St. Louis Grifter Kemp Admits to $155K Tax Refund Scam

ST. LOUIS, MO – Tyron F. Kemp, 30, a man with ties to both St. Louis and Riverview, Florida, pled guilty today to two counts of filing false claims with the Internal Revenue Service, admitting to a brazen tax refund scheme that bilked the government out of over $155,000. Kemp, who appeared before United States District Judge Audrey F. Fleissig, now faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a hefty $500,000.00 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for September 4, 2019.

Court documents reveal Kemp electronically filed a staggering 37 fraudulent tax returns between October 2013 and March 2015. The scheme generated a total of $155,775.00 in claimed refunds, with the IRS ultimately paying out $54,390.00 before catching on. Kemp confessed to directing those refunds to prepaid cards under his control, then promptly spending the ill-gotten gains – primarily here in St. Louis. Most of the fraudulent filings originated from a location in the 3000 block of Delmar Boulevard.

The scope of Kemp’s deception extended beyond simple numbers. A significant portion of the stolen identities originated from Kemp’s past. He spent much of his youth, including his high school years, in Tucson, Arizona, before returning to St. Louis in 2013. He then exploited relationships formed in Tucson, using the names and personal identifiers of acquaintances – without their knowledge or consent – to file the false returns. The scheme wasn’t limited to adults; Kemp also brazenly included the names of minor children to fraudulently claim dependent exemptions.

To further solidify the illusion of legitimacy, Kemp fabricated W-2 forms, falsely reporting wage amounts and taxes withheld to maximize the refunds. A recurring detail in these fraudulent forms was the inclusion of APAC Customer Services, Inc., one of his former employers in Tucson, as the supposed employer. This added a layer of complexity designed to mask the fraudulent activity. The two charges to which Kemp pled guilty involved returns containing the names of individuals he knew from Tucson, complete with false addresses and the fabricated APAC W-2 forms. The refunds claimed on these two returns totaled $5,277.20 and $5,044.00, respectively.

This wasn’t some fly-by-night operation. Kemp systematically exploited a vulnerability in the tax system, preying on the identities of individuals he once knew. The investigation, a joint effort between the IRS Criminal Investigation offices in Tucson and St. Louis, painstakingly pieced together the evidence, ultimately leading to Kemp’s guilty plea.

While the sentencing date looms, the full extent of the damage caused by Kemp’s actions is still being assessed. The victims, whose identities were stolen and misused, now face the arduous task of repairing their credit and protecting themselves from further fraud. This case serves as a stark reminder of the ever-present threat of tax fraud and the lengths to which some will go to enrich themselves at the expense of others.

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