Three Men Sentenced to Prison for Stolen Identity Refund Fraud Scheme

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Miles Bailey, age 54, of Queens, New York; Eric Thorne, age 51, of Albany; and James Simmons, age 51, of Albany, were sentenced to prison this week in connection with a conspiracy to use stolen identities to file fraudulent tax returns and obtain tax refunds.  The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and Special Agent in Charge Jonathan D. Larsen, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), New York Field Office.

Bailey was sentenced today to serve 75 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. 

Thorne and Simmons were each sentenced this week to serve 24 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. 

Bailey was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $1,916,928; Simmons was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $22,778; and Thorne was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $1,400 and a fine of $10,000. 

Bailey pled guilty to conspiring with Simmons, Thorne and others to defraud the United States, through the IRS, by filing hundreds of false and fraudulent income tax returns using the stolen means of identification of other individuals and obtaining tax refunds to which they were not entitled. 

Bailey used his own bank accounts and bank accounts in the name of his business, D.E. Caribe Taxes, to deposit the tax refund checks, after which Bailey withdrew, spent and transferred the money to his co-conspirators for their own purposes.  Bailey also pled guilty to aggravated identity theft in connection with his deposits of tax refund checks bearing forged signatures.  Simmons pled guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States, and Thorne pled guilty to theft of public money.  The conspiracy caused a loss to the IRS of $1,963,991. 

Senior United States District Judge Frederick J. Scullin, Jr. presided over the cases and sentenced all three defendants.

This case was investigated by the IRS, the Town of Colonie Police Department, the Town of Niskayuna Police Department, the Albany Police Department, the New York State Police, and the United States Postal Inspection Service.  It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan Kistler.