Guy A. Lewis, United States Attorney
for the Southern District of Florida, and Jose I. Marrero, Special Agent in Charge
of the Miami Field Office, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division,
announced that today a federal grand jury sitting in Miami, Florida, returned
a 23-count Indictment charging Feliciano Aguayo, Maria Sosa, Lorenza Sosa, Elizabeth
Sosa Feliciano, Jose Torres, and Aurelia Urrea with conspiring to file false tax
returns claiming fraudulent refunds, in violation of Title 18, United States Code,
Section 286, and filing false refund claims, in violation of Title 18, United
States Code, Section 287. Defendants are expected to voluntarily surrender to
federal authorities on April 11, 2002.
As set forth in the Indictment,
the conspiracy extended from January 1994, to December 1998. The defendants
caused the filing of multiple tax returns containing fabricated W-2s for themselves
and for other individuals from the Homestead metropolitan area. The refunds
ranged from approximately $2,000 to $4,000 each.
If the defendants are convicted
on the conspiracy to file false tax return charged in count 1, they face a maximum
statutory penalty of ten years' of imprisonment. If convicted for the filing
of specific false refund claims, charged in counts 2 to 23, they face a maximum
statutory penalty of five years' imprisonment on each count.
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