Mesquite Resident Indicted On Wire Fraud And Aggravated ID Theft Charges In Stolen Identity Refund Fraud (SIRF) Case

DALLAS — A federal grand jury in Dallas has returned an indictment charging Yolanda Lavell Kaiser with nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft, announced John Parker, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.

Special agents with Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation (CI) arrested Kaiser on those charges, and she made her initial appearance in federal court on February 12, 2015. Following a detention hearing held yesterday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Irma C. Ramirez, she was released on bond with conditions, including 24-hour home incarceration with electronic monitoring. In addition, Kaiser was ordered not to engage in the filing of any tax returns for anyone other than herself, not to possess any personal identification information for any person other than herself and any dependent, and not use a computer while charges are pending. According to the order setting those conditions, Kaiser is a resident of Mesquite, Texas.

According to the indictment, Kaiser prepared and filed tax returns through a tax preparation business known as Right 1 Tax Services, which, between September 2013 and April 2014, maintained an office on North Galloway in Mesquite. Subsequently, Right 1 Tax Service moved its office to Estate Lane in Dallas.

The indictment alleges that from September 2013 through August 2014, Kaiser prepared and filed fraudulent tax returns using the name, Social Security Number, and other means of identification of others, without their knowledge or consent. Using that information, she would obtain and possess prepaid debit cards issued in the names of those individuals, also without their knowledge or consent.

According to the indictment, using the identification of others, without their knowledge or consent, Kaiser filed false federal income tax returns to request tax refunds and direct the tax refunds to be deposited on prepaid debit cards. Kaiser then made cash withdrawals of refunds deposited into accounts, including making withdraws at ATMs with the prepaid debit cards.

A federal indictment is an accusation by a federal grand jury, and a defendant is entitled to the presumption of innocence unless proven guilty. Upon conviction, however, the penalty for each count of wire fraud is 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. Each count of aggravated identity theft carries, upon conviction, a mandatory two-year sentence.

IRSCI, with assistance from the Mesquite Police Department and the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office, is investigating. Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Nicholas Bunch is in charge of the prosecution.