Charlestown Woman Sentenced for Fraudulently Cashing 287 Tax Refund Checks

BOSTON - A Charlestown woman was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for fraudulently cashing 287 U.S. tax refund checks worth approximately $1.8 million.

Claudia Toribio, 35, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin to six months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $1,836,862 in restitution. On March 29, 2017, Toribio pleaded guilty to one count of theft of public money.

From February 2011 to Dec. 21, 2011, Toribio, who was employed by a check cashing business, was involved in a stolen identity refund fraud scheme in which she fraudulently cashed 287 U.S. tax refund checks totaling $1,836,862. When confronted by her employer in late 2011, she admitted her involvement in the scheme.

Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb and Joel P. Garland, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Suzanne Sullivan Jacobus of Weinreb’s Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.