Middlesex, N.J., Woman Pleads Guilty To Conspiring To Defraud The U.S. Treasury Department Of Nearly $1 Million

TRENTON, N.J. - A woman from Middlesex, New Jersey, today admitted defrauding the United States Department of the Treasury of $940,000 in income tax return checks, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced today.
                       
Rosemary Valerio, 32, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson in Trenton federal court to an information charging her with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States.

According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court:

Valerio and other conspirators obtained and cashed stolen income tax refund checks, using the illicit cash proceeds for their personal benefit. Valerio provided Treasury checks to Rosanna Rodriguez, the head teller at a Perth Amboy, New Jersey bank, who then negotiated the checks against unknowing third-party bank accounts. At her plea hearing, Valerio admitted that the total loss from the conspiracy was approximately $940,000. 

The count of conspiracy to defraud the United States carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gain or loss from the offense.  Sentencing is currently scheduled for Jan. 22, 2015.

Rodriguez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States on Sept. 22, 2014 and is scheduled for sentencing on Jan.12, 2015.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Jonathan D. Larsen; the U.S. Secret Service, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James Mottola; and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Andrew M. McLees, with the investigation.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle M. Corcione of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark, New Jersey.

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Defense counsel: Karen Fernandez Esq., New York

Valerio, Rosemary Information