Florida Man Sentenced for His Role in Fraudulent Tax Return Scheme

Contact Person: Benjamin Garner (803) 929-3000

Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Bill Nettles stated today that Amondo Samuel Burke of Tampa, Florida was sentenced to 33 months’ incarceration in federal court.  On May 28, 2015, Burke pled guilty to one count of theft of government funds, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 641, and one count of possession of fifteen or more unauthorized devices, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1029(a)(3).  Senior United States District Judge Margaret B. Seymour sentenced Burke to 33 months’ imprisonment followed by a three-year term of supervised release.  Judge Seymour also ordered Burke to pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service in the amount of $111,228.00.

Evidence presented at the guilty plea hearing established that, in February 2012, deputies with the Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office executed a traffic stop of Burke’s vehicle for a moving violation.  During a search of Burke’s vehicle, deputies found two lap-top computers, fifty-two pre-paid debit cards in the names of other individuals, and seventy three medical intake forms from a drug treatment facility in Philadelphia.  Burke later admitted to running a criminal tax scheme whereby he would use the personal identifying information of unsuspecting individuals to file false tax returns and have the fraudulent returns loaded onto pre-paid debit cards. By executing this scheme, Burke received a total of $111,228.00 in fraudulently obtained tax refunds from the Internal Revenue Service.

The case was investigated by agents of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations with the assistance of the Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office.  Assistant United States Attorney Ben Garner of the Columbia office is prosecuting the case.

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