Brooksville Woman Sentenced To Two Years In Prison For Aggravated Identity Theft

Tampa, FL - Acting United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that U.S. District Judge Susan C. Bucklew earlier this week sentenced Connie Lee (50, Brooksville) to two years in federal prison for theft of government funds and aggravated identity theft.  As part of her sentence, the court also entered a money judgment in the amount of $21,402 against Lee. Lee pleaded guilty on April 30, 2013. 

According to court documents, a fraudulent federal income tax return was filed in the name of Lee's son.  Lee received the corresponding fraudulent tax refund check at her residence.  After bribing her grandson to steal her son's personal identification documents, Lee took her nephew to a local bank, where she presented her son's stolen identification to bank personnel and duped her nephew into impersonating her son in order to open a bank account.  Lee then deposited the fraudulent tax refund check into the bank account and withdrew all of the funds for her own use.  Lee also assisted another individual in cashing a fraudulent tax refund check at the same bank and was paid for her assistance in that scheme.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, the Brooksville Police Department, and the Hernando County Sheriff's Office.  It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Josephine W. Thomas.