Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, announced today that Terry Foster, age 41, of Cleveland, Ohio, was sentenced to 30 months in prison as a result of Foster’s recent conviction on charges of Conspiracy and Submitting False Claims to the Internal Revenue Service. U.S. District Judge Christopher A. Boyko also ordered that Foster serve a period of three years on supervised release following his release from prison, and that Foster pay restitution totaling over $46,600.00 to the Internal Revenue Service and the six financial institutions which were defrauded as a result of Foster’s actions.

Co-defendants, Tawanna Denson, Madalyn Murray, Julet Ballard, Cozetta Foster and Robert Foster, each previously received sentences ranging from probation to 3 months in prison.

On September 23, 2008, a multiple count Indictment was returned by a federal grand jury in Cleveland, Ohio, charging Terry Foster and the other defendants with conspiracy and making, uttering and possessing counterfeited and forged checks of an organization, totaling approximately $41,000.00. The Indictment charged that Foster manufactured or otherwise obtained the counterfeited and forged checks, recruited others, including the co-defendants to negotiate said checks, and split the proceeds with the co-defendants.

The Indictment also charged Terry Foster with Identity Theft and Submitting 12 False and Fictitious Claims (tax returns claiming refunds) to the Internal Revenue Service using stolen personal identifier information of other individuals. Foster, using the stolen personal information of at least seven other individuals, filed false and fictitious tax returns, claiming refunds to which the individuals were not entitled, and directed the tax refunds to accounts maintained in Terry Foster’s name, or upon which Foster was an authorized signatory. The false tax claims totaled approximately $30,500.00.

Terry Foster entered guilty pleas on May 15, 2009 to conspiracy and submitting false claims to the IRS.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert W. Kern, of the Cleveland U.S. Attorney’s Office, following an investigation by the Cleveland Offices of the United States Secret Service and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division.