Page 18 - Florida Sentinel 10-11-16 Online Edition

Federal Crime
Service Provider Found Guilty Of Wire Fraud And Identity Theft
A federal jury recently found a 54-year-old income tax service provider guilty. She was charged with wire fraud and aggravated iden- tity theft.
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, Ms. Donna Demps formed the Florida corpora- tion, “D&D Honest Relieable Tax Services LLC.” She then used the corporation to open bank accounts into which she electronically trans- ferred tax refunds obtained by stealing the identities of real people, many of whom were veterans, disabled, eld-
Woman
Father Killed Outside Of His Apartment
erly, or otherwise unable to care for themselves, officials said.
Investigators further said that Ms. Demps never reg- istered her tax preparation service with the Internal Revenue Service because she would have had to reveal that she was an eight-time convicted felon. Through her bank accounts, Ms. Demps took more than $120,000 over a one-year period.
She faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. Her sentencing hear- ing is scheduled for February 3, 2017.
To Stolen
Police in Lakeland are in- vestigating an early Sunday morning shooting that lead to the death of Jean Maken- son Desroche.
At 4:30 a. m., Sunday, of- ficers received reports of shots fired at the Lakewood Terrace Apartments on West 14th Street. When officers ar- rived, investigators said they found Desroche, 21, lying on the ground next to his car.
Desroche was hospital- ized and later died. Detec- tives said he had been shot several times.
Pleads Guilty
Identity
Refund Fraud
A Sarasota woman en- tered a guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to com- mit theft of government property and identity theft.
A sentencing date has not been set in the case. How- ever, Ms. Mazie Hill, 50, faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to the plea agreement, Ms. Hill, work- ing with other individuals, processed debit and credit cards in other people’s names containing tax re- funds generated by fraudu- lent tax returns through a Square, Inc. account
Square, Inc. is a mer- chant processor that pro- vides terminals to businesses to process credit and debit card payments. Ms. Hill and others set up the merchant accounts re- lated to a restaurant located in the Middle District of Florida where Ms. Hill worked.
The accounts were sup- posed to be used to process payments for restaurant and bar services only. Instead, they were used to process credit and debit card trans- actions for both legitimate restaurant-related sales and for tax fraud transactions using prepaid debit cards such as Green Dot.
After the payments were processed, Square, Inc. elec- tronically transferred the funds to Ms. Hill’s bank ac- count and to the accounts of others, where the proceeds were shared and used for personal items.
The Green Dot cards con- taining fraudulent tax re- funds were brought to Ms. Hill at the restaurant by others. Often, Ms. Hill and her co-conspirators would swipe the cards in declining amounts until a transaction was accepted.
Between August and No- vember 2012, Ms. Hill con- ducted 115 successful transactions with Green Dot cards had been funded with false tax refunds, in the amount of nearly $90,000. Almost $55,000 in transac- tions were declined.
JEAN MAKENSON DESROCHE
The investigation into Desroche’s death is ongo- ing and no arrest has been made.
Stash House Guard Pleads Guilty
DEATH LISTING
Aikens Funeral Home
Mrs. Patricia Catledge, Tampa. Mrs. Bettina Booker, Tampa. Mrs. Althea Bynnom, Tampa.
Harmon Funeral Home
Mr. Buck T. Davis, Sr., Tampa.
Mr. Shelton Eugene Harrison, Tampa. Ms. Lillie Mae Irons, Tampa.
Mr. Billy Jenkins, Tampa.
Ms. Paula Kay Freeny Thomas, Tampa. Ms. Maude Tucker, Tampa.
Ray Williams Funeral Home
Ms. Evelyn Bourn, Tampa. Mr. Jessie Dale, Tampa. Mr. Charles Reed, Tampa.
Wilson Funeral Home
Ms. Geraldine Jackson, Tampa.
Ms. Aretha Kelly, Tampa.
Ms. Mary Philon, Tampa.
Mr. Hillry Allen Williams, Wesley Chapel,
Florida.
Last week, an 18-year-old man pleaded guilty to drug charges. He faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 10 years up to life, in federal prison.
According to court docu- ments, Jesus A. Barrera Guerrero, of La Porte, Texas, was charged with con- spiracy to possess with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine and 500 grams or more of metham- phetamine.
According to the plea agreement, in August 2016, at the direction of members of a large drug trafficking organi-
zation (DTO), Barrera Guerrero delivered approx- imately 11 kilograms of methamphetamine to an un- dercover DEA agent at a gas station in Gibsonton.
Barrera Guerrero was arrested following the trans- action, and he later led law enforcement investigators to a nearby drug stash house, where he had been staying. Inside the house, DEA agents found nearly 13 additional kilograms of methampheta- mine and approximately 11 kilograms of cocaine.
A sentencing date has not been set in the case.
Woman Convicted In
$2.5 Million Medicare
A 38-year-old woman was convicted of participating in a multi-million dollar scheme to defraud Medicare last week. Her sentencing date has been scheduled for Janu- ary 5, 2017.
According to court docu- ments, Ms. Pilar Garcia Lorenzo collected millions of dollars by submitting fraudulent Medicare claims. The investigation began in the summer of 2014.
Officials said Ms. Garcia Lorenzo operated Gold Care Home Health Services, lo- cated on Busch Blvd. The company was reportedly re- imbursed claims for health care services that were not completed, not considered medically necessary, or that were not ordered by a li- censed physician.
The claims submitted for reimbursement totaled $2.5 million.
Officials said in an effort to hide the money, Ms. Garcia Lorenzo created fictitious shell companies that were registered in Hialeah. Ap-
PILAR GARCIA LORENZO
proximately $2 million in funds paid to her company were reportedly laundered through these false compa- nies.
The scam culminated in June 2015 after the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services uncov- ered the scheme through an investigation.
Ms. Garcia Lorenzo and Amaury Perez, who was her alleged partner, were in- dicted. The case was investi- gated as part of a national Medicare Fraud Strike Force sweep.
Fraud Case
PAGE 18 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2016