Trenecia Moore and Michael Muniz, Identity Theft Scheme, Texas 2018

HOUSTON, Texas - Trenecia Moore and Michael Muniz, two Houston residents, have been ordered to federal prison following their convictions of conspiracy to commit access device fraud, according to a recent announcement by U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick and Special Agent in Charge Steven Grell of the U.S. Department of Labor - Office of Inspector General (DOL-OIG).

Moore, 34, and Muniz, 28, pleaded guilty on Oct. 24, 2017, and Jan. 8, 2018, respectively. Today, U.S. District Judge Nancy F. Atlas sentenced Moore to 23 months in prison, while Muniz was sentenced to 12 months and one day. Both will also serve three years of supervised release and pay restitution in the amounts of $716,054 and $361,597, respectively.

The pair were indicted in June 2017. Moore filed false tax claims and unemployment insurance claims with identifying information of others. She then loaded the funds from those false claims onto debit cards and had them delivered to false addresses. Muniz assisted her in retrieving the cards and withdrawing the funds.

"Moore and Muniz defrauded the State of Texas Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust Fund and the IRS by conspiring with others to steal the personally identifiable information of unwitting individuals in order to file fraudulent UI claims and federal tax returns," said Grell. "We will continue to work with our federal and state law enforcement partners to safeguard the UI system from those who exploit these benefit programs."

"The sentencing of Moore and Muniz brings justice and hopefully some closure for the victims of this stolen identity fraud scheme," said Rick Goss of IRS-CI. "IRS-CI special agents are dedicated to stopping identity thieves like these and will continue to work diligently with our law enforcement partners to put an end to these schemes."

Moore and Muniz were permitted to remain on bond and surrender to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

The investigation was conducted by DOL-OIG, IRS-CI, and Texas Workforce Commission with the assistance of the FBI. Former Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) Andrew Leuchtmann and AUSA Carolyn Ferko prosecuted the case.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdtx/pr/two-houston-residents-sentenced-identity-theft-scheme