Marion County Man Sentenced For Stolen Identity Refund Fraud

Fort Myers, Florida – U.S. District Judge John E. Steele today sentenced Fred Kevin Johnson to 10 months in federal prison for possession of 15 or more unauthorized access devices. In addition, he was sentenced to a consecutive term of 24 months’ imprisonment for aggravated identity theft.  Johnson pleaded guilty on January 7, 2014.

According to court documents, on October 2, 2012, Johnson was stopped in a vehicle for traffic violations in Lee County, Florida.  A subsequent search of his vehicle revealed that Johnson possessed multiple notebooks containing the Personal Identification Information (PII) of more than 100 individuals. Some of the PII was used to file fraudulent tax returns.  The fraudulent returns were filed without the knowledge of the individuals whose PII was used by Johnson.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jeffrey F. Michelland.