Page 3 - Florida Sentinel 3-17-17

Feature
Former Detective To Repay More Than $5,000 In Tax Fraud Case
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
Last week, a federal judge set a sentencing date for a for- mer police detective who ac- cepted a plea agreement with the U. S. government in a tax fraud investigation. The plea agreement states that the de- tective pleaded guilty to one charge in a sweeping 20- count, superseding indictment of him and his wife.
U. S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara will sentence former Tampa Police Detective Eric Houston March 22, 2017. He is facing a maximum of 10 years in prison.
Houston pleaded guilty to count 6 of the indictment, which charges him with re- ceiving, concealing, or retain- ing 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 approximately $5,021.58 in items from Home Depot.
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 remaining balance of $1,301.65 was paid on the card.
Officials learned that Ms. Rita Girven had opened a bank account with $100 at Fifth Third Bank. Nine fraud- ulent federal income tax checks were deposited into the account. Eight of the deposits were in the names of others.
Ms. Girven also de- posited a tax return in her own name into the bank account. Officials said that return was fraudulent as well.
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 agree- ment stated.
Wife’s Involvement
The nightmare for then TPD Sgt. La Joyce Hous- ton, the wife of then Detec- tive Eric Houston, began in October 2013, when she was arrested and charged with grand theft and welfare fraud. She was charged with 2 counts of welfare fraud and 1 count of grand theft. Sergeant Hous- ton was a 16-year veteran with the Tampa Police Depart- ment at the time.
Circumstances that led to the termination and arrests took place on August 8th. Po-
...Former Tampa Police Officers, husband and wife, La Joyce and Eric Houston.
RITA GIRVEN
... Focal point of indictments and arrests of TPD employees
puter for a fraudulent pur- pose.
She was also ordered to forfeit $29,057 in restitution, and to pay $166,026, which is considered traceable proceeds from the crime.
According to court docu- ments, between 2009 and 2014, Ms. Bright accessed password protected law en- forcement data bases to obtain the personal indentifying in- formation of other people. She then gave that information to Ms. Girven, who used it to file fraudulent federal income taxes on at least 10 occasions.
Officials said Ms. Girven shared the proceeds of the il- legal funds with Ms. Bright.
Ms. Bright was indicted in September 2015, and en- tered a guilty plea in February 2016.
TONIA BRIGHT ... Former 33-year TPD employee
Rita Girven’s Role Ms. Rita Girven, who pleaded guilty November 20, 2015, accused of committing federal income tax fraud wa- gered a deal with the U. S. At- torney’s Office. In the plea bargain, she admitted to re- ceiving $33,002 in the tax
fraud scheme.
In addition to 12 years in
federal prison she is currently serving, Ms. Girven received a tongue lashing from U. S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Kovachevich. Judge Kovachevich called her “a failure” and said she should “consider herself fortunate.”
Judge Kovachevich
sentenced her on the lower end of the sentencing guide- lines. She also ordered her to pay $2.4 million in restitution to the U. S. government.
According to officials, Ms. Girven used the identifica- tions of 508 victims to file the false tax returns.
lice detectives were listening to recorded telephone conver- sations of Ms. Girven, who was a longtime confidential informant. She was an inmate at the Hillsborough County Jail as part of an ongoing in- vestigation.
Ms. Girven has an exten- sive criminal record with at least 49 felony charges. With most of the charges related to theft and fraud. Over a 9-week period, Sergeant Houston is said to have spoken with Ms. Girven at least 35 times.
Mrs. Houston and her husband, Eric, had adopted one of Ms. Girven’s children.
The Houstons have had custody of the child since she was an infant and legally adopted her in 2009.
In addition to the Hous- tons, Ms. Girven had forged friendships with numerous of- ficers and numerous civilian employees as well.
According to police, during one of the conversations, Ms. Girven told Sergeant Houston where she could find her government food as- sistance card, commonly re- ferred to as an EBT card.
On September 10th, Sgt. Houston used the card to purchase $365 in groceries from a Gibsonton Wal-Mart.
Then Chief Jane Castor terminated Sgt. Houston at her attorney’s office and in- formed her of the charges against her.
The charges against her were later dropped. Since that time, Mrs. Houston’s arrest record has been removed from the Hillsborough County Jail website.
In Oct0ber 2015, Mrs. Houston and her husband were charged in federal court with conspiracy, theft of gov- ernment property and money laundering.
Mrs. Houston is also charged with obtaining infor- mation from a protected com- puter with the intent to defraud and aggravated iden- tity theft.
According to the indict- ment, as part of her duties as a Tampa Police Sergeant, Mrs. Houston had access to local, state, and federal law enforcement databases, in-
cluding the State of Florida’s Driver and Vehicle Informa- tion Database, known as DAVID.
The indictment also al- leged that the couple then gave the information to Ms. Rita Girven and others.
The government contends that the money was used to make purchases, pay off lines of credit, purchase money or- ders, and cash was withdrawn from ATM machines.
The trial of La Joyce Houston is still scheduled to take place in May 2017.
Ms. Tonia Bright
Another individual con- nected to Ms. Girven, was Ms. Tonia Bright, a civilian employee with 33 years of em- ployment. In May 2016, she was sentenced to 2 years in prison for obtaining informa- tion from a protected com-
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