Two Georgia State Prisoners Sentenced for Committing Tax Fraud using Stolen Identities from Prison
GAINESVILLE, Ga. – Enrique Toribio has been sentenced to four years in federal prison for engaging in income tax fraud by providing names and Social Security numbers to a tax preparer, and instructing the tax preparer to file fraudulent income tax returns on his behalf using those stolen identities, all while serving his sentence as an inmate in the Georgia Department of Corrections.
“This case highlights the continuing problem of inmates in state prisons using contraband cellular phones to reach beyond the prison walls and continue to victimize our community,” said U. S. Attorney John Horn. “Identity theft is bad enough, but victims shouldn’t have to defend themselves against those who are already serving time for other serious crimes.”
“Identity theft schemes wreak havoc in the lives of victims, often causing extensive financial harm and hardship to countless Americans each year. In addition, the use of fraudulent identity documents can also poses significant national security risk,” said Nick S. Annan, special agent in charge of ICE Homeland Security Investigations Atlanta. “We owe it to the victims of these schemes to pursue cases aggressively; as such, HSI actively partners with governments across the world to dismantle these transnational criminal organizations, bring perpetrators to justice and recoup victims’ losses wherever possible.”
“Sophisticated stolen identity refund fraud schemes have the potential to harm many taxpayers and put large amounts of public money at risk,” said James E. Dorsey, Acting Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation. “Enrique Toribio and his co-conspirators demonstrated a blatant disregard of the integrity of the United States tax system and caused immeasurable hardship to innocent victims. We, along with our law enforcement partners at Department of Homeland Security and the United States Attorney’s Office, continue to do our part in protecting the sanctity and integrity of the tax system and those individuals whose identities were stolen, as well as recovering any monetary loss against the U.S. Treasury.”
According to U.S. Attorney Horn, the charges and other information presented in court: Toribio provided 39 stolen identities to a tax preparer via a contraband cell phone while incarcerated at Hancock State Prison. At the time, Toribio was serving an 18-year sentence for aggravated assault. He enlisted his mother, Rosa Toribio-Gama, and sister, Lupita Rodriguez-Toribio, to meet with the tax preparer outside the prison to sign the fraudulent income tax returns.
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Marcus Burke, also a prisoner within the Georgia Department of Corrections, provided 29 stolen identities to the same tax preparer by using a contraband cell phone from Hancock State Prison and through a SunTrust bank employee. At the time, Burke was serving a 20-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter.
Both Toribio and Burke were convicted of two counts of aggravated identity theft and one count of conspiracy to commit tax fraud on August 30, 2016 after both pleaded guilty. All involved in these cases and their sentences are as follows:
- Enrique Toribio, 30, of Gainesville, Georgia, has been sentenced to four years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.
- Marcus Burke, 35, of Atlanta, Georgia, was sentenced on December 8, 2016, to three years, three months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.
- Rosa Toribio-Gama, 48, of Gainesville, Georgia, was sentenced to three years of probation with six months to be served on home confinement, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $3,650, to be paid jointly with Rodriguez-Toribio. She was charged for her role in the income tax fraud, after signing tax forms allowing the tax preparer to e-file. Toribio-Gama was convicted of conspiracy to commit income tax fraud after pleading guilty on October 28, 2016.
- Lupita Rodriguez-Toribio, 25, of Gainesville, Georgia, was sentenced to three years of probation, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $3,650, to be paid jointly with Toribio-Gama. She also was charged for her role in the fraud, after she signed fraudulent income tax returns prepared by the tax preparer. Rodriguez-Toribio was convicted of conspiracy to commit income tax fraud after pleading guilty on December 7, 2016,
This case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations and the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation.
Assistant United States Attorneys William L. McKinnon, Jr. and Jennifer Keen prosecuted the case.
For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov(link sends e-mail) or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.
