Arizona Woman Sentenced for Possession of Fifteen or more Unauthorized Access Devices

United States Attorney Ron Parsons announced that a Phoenix, Arizona, woman convicted of Possession of Fifteen or more Unauthorized Access Devices was sentenced by Chief Judge Jeffrey L. Viken, U.S. District Court.

Lauren Montgomery, age 31, was sentenced on February 21, 2019, to 41 months in federal prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund and $105,605 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

The conviction stems from Montgomery possessing more than 15 unauthorized or counterfeit access devices, specifically names, dates of birth, and social security numbers issued to other persons.  Montgomery used this information to file false income tax returns in other individuals’ names to obtain fraudulent tax refunds from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Kelderman prosecuted the case.

Montgomery was immediately turned over to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.