Ashburn Resident Pleads Guilty To Filing Fraudulent Tax Returns

Michael J. Moore, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, announced that Timothy D. Wilburn, aged 32, of Ashburn, Georgia, entered a guilty plea to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft on December 15, 2014, before the Honorable W. Louis Sands, U.S. District Court Judge, in Albany, Georgia. 

Mr. Wilburn pled guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.  The former carries a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine or both, while the latter requires a sentence of at least two years imprisonment consecutive to any other sentence and a fine of up to $250,000, or both.  He will be sentenced in about 60 days.

Mr. Wilburn devised and executed a scheme whereby he submitted over seventy false income tax returns involving the names and identities of actual persons.  He received the refunds from these returns and converted same to his own use.  His scheme was uncovered when officers of the Albany Police Department, responding to a burglary report at his house, found evidence of the false returns in the house during the course of their investigation of the purported burglary.  Evidence of illegal refunds of over $120,000 was found.

“Mr. Wilburn essentially engaged in an identity fraud scheme to cheat the government, without regard to the pain and financial hardship it would and did bring to the persons whose identities he usurped.  Only the alertness of the law enforcement officers who went to his residence in response to an unrelated burglary report brought this devious scheme to an end.  My office will continue to vigorously prosecute cases such as this which victimize both the tax paying public and the innocent individuals who have their lives disrupted through the theft of their identities,” said U.S. Attorney Michael Moore.

The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation and the Ashburn Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorney Jim Crane is prosecuting the case for the Government.                                

Questions concerning this case should be directed to Pamela Lightsey, Public Information Officer, United States Attorney’s Office, at (478) 621-2603.