Eleven defendants have been indicted by a federal grand jury on 90 counts including tax fraud, identity theft and cocaine distribution committed over a period of more than two years.
U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler’s office says the defendants allegedly obtained names and Social Security numbers of Puerto Rico residents from January 2010 to March 2012, by means including the acquisition of three laptop computers containing more than 2,600 stolen identities and stealing mail from Anchorage mailboxes. The information was then used to falsely claim millions of dollars in fraudulent tax rebates to which they were not entitled.
“Today’s indictment is a clear warning that anyone who steals the identities of innocent taxpayers and uses the information for personal profit will be aggressively pursued, investigated, and prosecuted, in Alaska or throughout the United States,” Loeffler said in a statement Thursday. “This case is an example of how interagency cooperation and teamwork can successfully bring down an entire organized criminal conspiracy.”
The scheme involved contacting conspirators in both New Jersey and Puerto Rico, who were involved in sending tax refund checks to Anchorage under false names. The checks were then negotiated at Anchorage banks. A Wells Fargo bank employee is charged in the indictment with helping other defendants open accounts under fake names and negotiating forged U.S. Treasury checks.
Cashing the checks required additional identity fraud, as outlined in Thursday’s statement.
“In order to negotiate the tax refund checks, the defendants allegedly used false identification documents,” prosecutors wrote. “They allegedly obtained these documents by using the names, dates of birth, and social security numbers of other individuals in applications made to the Alaska Department of Motor Vehicles. The defendants are charged with opening numerous bank accounts in the various stolen identities.”
Additional charges include aggravated identity theft, submitting false claims for refund, possessing stolen mail, making false claims of U.S. citizenship, committing passport fraud, making false statements to banks and credit unions and passing the forged Treasury checks.
All of the defendants involved in the tax scheme were citizens of either the Dominican Republic or Mexico, who allegedly made fraudulent claims to be U.S. citizens on their applications for the documents.
The charges stem from an initial case investigated by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and the Anchorage Police Department. The new charges have been investigated by a bevy of federal agencies including IRS Criminal Investigations, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and theU.S. State Department's Diplomatic Security Service.
Each fraud charge carries from two to 30 years in prison, while the drug charges require a five-year mandatory minimum sentence if convicted.
More details on the case were expected to be announced at a press conference called by Loeffler’s office at 2 p.m. Thursday. KTUU.com will carry a live stream of that press conference.
Those named in the indictment include:
Joel Jose Santana-Pierna
Abel Santana-Pierna
Misael Polanco-Villa
Nicolas Jimenez-Sanchez
Isaac Amparo-Vasquez
Randin Paredes Henriquez
John Doe (an unidentified person with several aliases including Japhet Soto Santiago, Luis Angel Cortes Decodet, Steeven Joan Vidal-Alomara and “Kiki”)
Wedys Ramirez-Javier
Samuel Peguero
Fatima Aguilar-Martinez
Hilda Josephine Hernandez Mcmullen
Charges listed in the full indictment include:
24 counts of false claim of U.S. citizenship
20 counts of false statement to federally insured financial institution
16 counts of passing forged Treasury check
10 counts of false claim for tax refund
9 counts of distribution of cocaine
5 counts of aggravated identity theft
1 count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine
1 count of attempted possession of cocaine with intent to distribute
1 count of conspiracy to commit international money laundering
1 count of conspiracy to defraud the government with respect to claims
1 count of possession of stolen mail
1 count of passport fraud
This is a developing story. Please check KTUU.com and the Channel 2 newscasts for updates.
