Page 18 - 5-5-15 Tuesday's Edition

Crime
7 Sentenced In Tax Fraud Scheme
Drug Charges Nets Man
More Than 17 Years In Prison
SHADAE COTTON BRANDON TANISHA TERRENCE
GILCHRIST JOHNSON
JOHNSON
KENNETH ROYAL
MIKEIL ROYAL DONTERRIO TROUP
Last week, a judge sen- tenced seven individuals for their roles in a conspiracy to commit stolen identity refund fraud. All seven were sen- tenced to federal prison time.
The Court also entered a money judgment of $488,657.71 against individu- als, which represents the amount of money received from the criminal activity. This was the amount of the loss the Internal Revenue suf- fered as a result of the scam.
U. S. District Judge Vir- ginia Hernandez Coving- ton sentenced Shadae Vontricia Cotton, 22; Brandon Gilchrist, 28; Tanisha Latrail Johns0n, 25; Terrence Lenard Johnson, 26; Kenneth Jarrell Royal, 24; Mikeil Royal, 22; and 32-year-old Donterrio Neal Troup. Each of them had pleaded guilty to their respective charges in February of this year.
According to court docu- ments the total amount of de- posits made into the accounts for each individual are as fol- lows:
Ms. Cotton received $39,718 in the H & R Block account and $45,264 in the Fidelity account. She pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft of government funds, ag- gravated identity theft, and theft of government funds.
Ms. Cotton was sen- tenced to 1 year and 9 months in prison.
Ms. Johnson received $31,811 in the H & R Block ac- count and $11,544 in the Fi- delity account. She pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft of government funds, ag- gravated identity theft, and theft of government funds.
Ms. Johnson was sen- tenced to 1 year and 8 months in prison.
Gilchrist received $52,270 in the H & R Block account and $68,484 in the Fidelity account. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft of government funds, ag- gravated identity theft, and theft of government funds.
Gilchrist was sentenced to 3 years and 1 month in prison.
Terrence Johnson re- ceived $48,015 in the H & R Block account and $16,956 in the Fidelity account. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft of govern- ment funds, aggravated iden- tity theft, and theft of government funds.
Terrence Johnson was sentenced to 2 years in prison. Troup received $25,523 in the H & R Block account
and $41,720 in the Fidelity ac- count. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft of government funds, aggra- vated identity theft, and theft of government funds.
Troup was sentenced to 2 years and 11 months in prison. Mikeil Royal received $41,689 in the H & R Block account and $22,632 in the Fidelity account. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy and ag-
gravated identity theft. Mikeil Royal was sen-
tenced to 5 years and 5 months in prison.
Kenneth Royal received $5,478 in the H & R Block ac- count and $37,550 in the Fi- delity account. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy and theft of government funds.
Kenneth Royal was sen- tenced 2 years and 9 months in prison.
According to court records, the seven individuals opened bank accounts at H & R Block Bank and Fidelity Bank in 2012, prior to the start of the tax season in 2013. Each person used his or her own personal information to open the accounts. They used the open accounts as destina- tions to deposit fraudulent in- come tax returns that had been filed with the Internal Revenue Service.
Investigators said almost all of the fraudulent returns contained information that belonged to deceased persons. Officials said the defendants obtained the names of the de- ceased persons from the In- ternet.
As a result of this, the forms required that the per- son filing the return include his or her name, relationship to the deceased person, and Social Security number, among other identifiers. The forms also required the filers to list the bank account num- bers where the money was to be deposited.
After the deposits were made, officials said it was quickly removed from the ac- counts through a series of rapid purchases and cash withdrawals.
A 36-year-old man was sentenced to more than 17 years in federal prison last week. He was charged with conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute 5 kilo- grams or more of cocaine.
According to court docu- ments, Altwan L. Hol- loway, of St. Petersburg, pleaded guilty to the charges on December 9, 2014.
U. S. Judge Steven D. Merryday sentenced Hol- loway to 17 years and 6 months in federal prison.
Over a period of several years, Holloway was in- volved in a conspiracy and re- sponsible for the distribution of at least 149 kilograms of cocaine in St. Petersburg.
Officials searched a resi-
ALTWAN L. HOLLOWAY ... Sentenced to 17 years, 6 months in prison
dence used as a “stash house,” reportedly under the control of the drug trafficking organ- ization. Agents located digital scales, mixing agents, con- tainers with cocaine residue, and a “kilo” press. The agents also found 850 grams of co- caine and $71,930 in cash in- side the stash house.
Ex-Principal Sentenced To 10 Years On Molestation Charges
A former principal of a local charter school has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. In addition to serving the sentence, he will also be required to register as a sex offender.
Circuit Judge Gregory Holder sentenced James Jerome Larkin, 64, to prison after he admitted to sexually battering two young boys. Judge Holder also im- posed probation that included a condition that he could not live, work, or volunteer any- where children gather.
Larkin was the principal of Tampa Day School, a pri- vate institution that special- izes in working with children with learning disabilities. He
JAMES JEROME LARKIN
was arrested in August 2014. The arrest came about after a 14-year-old boy told authorities he was molested while in Larkin’s care. Later, a man came forward and ac- cused Larkin of molesting him in 1980 when he attended a sleepover at Larkin’s
home.
Larkin pleaded guilty to
both charges.
Former Probation Officer Convicted On Tax Fraud Charges
A 31-year-old former Pro- bation Officer was convicted of several charges related to federal income tax fraud. He was indicted on December 4, 2014.
According to court docu- ments, Marcus Lowe was employed as a Manatee County Probation Officer. He was assigned to the Manatee County Jail in 2012.
His job allowed him to have access to the personal information of several in- mates. Evidence introduced during his trial revealed that Lowe reportedly provided the information to others who, in turn, used the identi- ties to file false and fraudu- lent income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service.
Lowe was indicted on the charges of conspiracy to com- mit wire fraud, theft of gov- ernment funds, and aggravated identity theft;
MARCUS LOWE
wire fraud, theft of govern- ment funds; and aggravated identity theft.
The conspiracy revealed an attempted loss to the gov- ernment that exceeded $74,000, officials said.
A federal jury convicted Lowe last Friday. Lowe faces a maximum of 45 years in prison, to be followed by a mandatory consecutive term of at least 2 years in prison.
The judge has not deter- mined a sentencing date for Lowe.
PAGE 18 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, MAY 5, 2015