Lake Wales Man Indicted On Tax Fraud Charges

Tampa, Florida – Acting United States Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow announces the return of an indictment charging Tedderick Fields charging him with three counts of filing false claims with the Internal Revenue Service, one count of wire fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft in connection with income tax fraud. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison for the wire fraud charge, with an additional two-year consecutive sentence for the aggravated identity theft charge. He also faces up to five years’ imprisonment on each of the false claim charges.

According to the indictment, Fields filed false tax returns in his name from 2011 through 2013, claiming a $400,000 refund in 2012. He also filed a false and unauthorized tax return claiming a fraudulent refund of $6,546 in the name of another individual and unlawfully used that individual’s personal identifying information to file a false tax return in his name.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

This case was investigated by Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation. The St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office assisted with the arrest. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kelley Howard-Allen.