Page 2 - Florida Sentinel 3-24-17

Tax Fraud Cases
Judge Rejects Plea Of Former Detective In Tax Fraud Case
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
A federal judge rejected a plea agreement between the U. S. Attorney’s Office and a former police officer accused of tax fraud. The judge also recused himself from the case.
Former Tampa Police De- tective Eric Houston went before Judge Richard Lazzara Wednesday morn- ing to determine if the judge would accept the plea bar- gain negotiated between his attorney, Wade Whidden and the U. S. Attorney’s Of- fice.
In a surprise move, Judge Lazzara rejected the plea agreement and then re- cused himself from the case. Had Judge Lazzara ac- cepted the plea, the next step would be setting a sentencing date.
A spokesperson for the U. S. Attorney’s Office said, “Houston still intends to plead guilty pursuant to the same plea agreement to which our office has already agreed. The case was trans- ferred to Judge Charlene Honeywell,” he said.
Judge Honeywell will decide if she will accept the recommendation made by a Magistrate.
In the plea agreement, Houston admitted to ac- cepting funds obtained by the filing of a fraudulent in- come tax refund. The $5,021.38 was used over a three-day period to pay off a Home Depot credit card in Houston’s name. The funds were traced to a bank ac- count Rita Girven opened with $100 at Fifth Third Bank.
After the account was opened, officials said 9 fraudulent income tax refund checks were deposited into
ERIC HOUSTON
the account. One of those was in the name of Rita Gir- ven and the other 8 were in the names of other people.
Initially, Houston was charged along with his wife, former Tampa Police Ser- geant La Joyce Houston, in a sweeping 20-count, su- perseding indictment.
Houston pleaded guilty to count 6 of the indictment, which charges him with re- ceiving, concealing, or re- taining stolen property of the United States. He also agreed to pay restitution in the amount of $5,301.65.
According to the plea agreement, in November 2010, Houston used his credit card at Home Depot to purchase items valued at $5,021.58.
From December 2010 through February 2011, he made monthly payments on the credit card. On March 20, and 21, 2011, $4,000 was paid on the credit card in person at the store. On March 22, 2011, the remain- ing balance of $1,301.65 was paid on the card.
Investigators said wit- nesses indicated that Rita Girven paid off the Hous- tons’ Home Depot credit card with proceeds of tax fraud with the Houstons’ alleged knowledge, the plea agreement stated.
Sons Already Sentenced:
Mother Gets 18 Months In Prison In Tax Fraud Case
A Tampa mother is the final member of a family sentenced to prison in a tax fraud case. Her 2 sons were sentenced earlier this month.
According to the U. S. At- torney’s Office, Ms. Elise Ellis, 53, appeared before U. S. District Judge James D. Whittemore on Monday. Ms. Ellis was sentenced to 18 months in prison and 6 months of home detention.
The Court also entered a joint money judgment in the amount of $221,000 that all three defendants must repay. Which is considered the proceeds from the illegal activity.
Ms. Ellis pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit tax fraud and aggravated iden- tity theft on January 3, 2017.
All three were indicted by the Grand Jury for conspir- acy, wire fraud, theft of gov- ernment funds, and aggravated identity theft in August 2016.
Johnson and Godbolt pleaded guilty to conspiracy and aggravated identity theft in December. Earlier this month, Judge Whitte- more sentenced Paul Johnson, 26, to four years in prison. His brother, Keith Godbolt, 36, was
KEITH GODBOLT
... Sentenced to 3 years, 6 months in prison
sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison.
According to court docu- ments, the illegal activity began as early as August 2011 and continued until April 2013.
The plea agreement of Johnson and Godbolt stated that they conspired with others to commit wire fraud, theft of government property and identity theft by filing fraudulent tax re- turns in the names of other people.
Once the returns were ac- cepted by the IRS, the re- turns electronically deposited into bank ac- counts that Ms. Ellis, God- bolt, and Johnson
PAUL JOHNSON ...Sentenced to 4 years in prison
controlled.
Officials said the pro-
ceeds were split between the co-conspirators by writing checks or otherwise transfer- ring the money or cash with- drawals.
Many of the people whose names were used to file the fraudulent income tax returns were dead. The other people were not aware that returns had been filed in their names and had not given anyone permission to do so, officials said.
Investigators said during the course of the conspiracy, the defendants filed at least 125 false tax returns for 2011 claiming approximately $977,000.
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