Palm Beach County Man Pleads Guilty In Identity Theft Tax Refund Fraud Scheme

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Paula A. Reid, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Secret Service (USSS), and José A. Gonzalez, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), announced that defendant Fednol Pierre, 34, of West Palm Beach, pled guilty before U.S. District Judge James I. Cohn to one count of theft of government money and one count of aggravated identity theft. The sentencing hearing is set for June 26, 2013 in front of Judge Cohn. At sentencing, Pierre faces a mandatory minimum statutory sentence of two years in prison and a maximum possible sentence of 12 years in prison.

According to documents filed in court, on September 29, 2009, Pierre added an individual to his bank account as a joint account holder -- without this individual’s knowledge or consent -- using this individual’s name, Social Security number, date of birth, and driver’s license number. The following day, Pierre deposited a $22,081 tax refund check from the U.S. Treasury in the name of this individual. In the weeks following this deposit, Pierre withdrew funds from the joint account. On December 3, 2009, Pierre closed the joint account and transferred the remaining funds into his account.

Mr. Ferrer thanked USSS and IRS-CI for their work on the case. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin C. Coats.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.