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Feature
7 Tampa Residents Plead Guilty To Tax Fraud Charges
SHADAE COTTON
Seven resident of Tampa pleaded guilty to filing fraud- ulent income tax returns. The scheme in which they were involved resulted in a loss of nearly a half million dollars.
According to court docu- ments, the defendants are identified as: Shadae Von- tricia Cotton, 22; Bran- don Gilchrist, 28; Tanisha Latrail Johns0n, 25; Terrence Lenard Johnson, 26; Kenneth Jarrell Royal, 24; Mikeil Royal, 22; and 32-year-old Donterrio Neal Troup.
Ms. Cotton, Ms. John- son, Gilchrist, Terrence Johnson, and Troup pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft of govern- ment funds, aggravated identity theft, and theft of government funds. Each faces up to 15 years in prison in federal prison.
Mikeil Royal pleaded guilty to conspiracy and ag- gravated identity theft. He
BRANDON GILCHRIST
faces a maximum of five years in prison, followed by a mandatory two-year sen- tence on the identity theft charge.
Kenneth Royal pleaded guilty to conspiracy and theft of government funds. He faces a maximum of 15 years in prison.
According to court records, the seven individu- als opened bank accounts at H&RBlockBankandFi- delity Bank in 2012, prior to the start of the tax season in 2013. Each person used his or her own personal infor- mation to open the accounts. They used the open accounts as destinations to deposit fraudulent income tax re- turns that had been filed with the Internal Revenue Service.
Investigators said almost all of the fraudulent returns contained information that belonged to deceased per- sons. As a result of this, the forms required that the per- son filing the return include
TANISHA JOHNSON
his or her name, relationship to the deceased person, and Social Security number, among other identifiers. They were also required to list the bank account num- bers where the money was to be deposited.
Officials said each of the individuals used their own personal information on the income tax forms.
After the deposits were made, officials said it was quickly removed from the ac- counts through a series of rapid purchases and cash withdrawals.
According to court docu- ments the total amount of deposits made into the ac- counts for each individual are as follows:
Ms. Cotton received $39,718 in the H & R Block account and $45,264 in the Fidelity account.
Gilchrist received $52,270 in the H & R Block account and $68,484 in the Fidelity account.
Ms. Johnson received
TERRENCE JOHNSON
MIKEIL ROYAL
$31,811 in the H & R Block account and $11,544 in the Fidelity account.
Terrence Johnson re- ceived $48,015 in the H & R Block account and $16,956 in the Fidelity account.
Kenneth Royal re- ceived $5,478 in the H & R Block account and $37,550 in the Fidelity account.
Mikeil Royal received
KENNETH ROYAL
DONTERRIO TROUP
$41,689 in the H & R Block account and $22,632 in the Fidelity account.
Troup received $25,523 in the H & R Block account and $41,720 in the Fidelity account.
The total amount of the loss the Internal Revenue suffered was $488,657.71. A sentencing date for the de- fendants has not been set.
CORRECTION
In Tuesday’s edition of the Sentinel, the name of the 14.1 pound infant born in January at St. Joseph’s Hospital was incorrect. His name is Avery Denson. We apologize for error.
PAGE 2-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2015