Defendant Convicted In Identity Theft Tax Fraud Scheme Involving Medical Patients’ Personal Identifying Information

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Kelly R. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), and Paula Reid, Special Agent in Charge, United States Secret Service (USSS), Miami Field Office, announce that defendant Kenol Augustin, 36, of Miami, was convicted by a federal jury of one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1029(b). Sentencing is scheduled for January 15, 2015. At sentencing, Augustin faces up to five years in prison.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, in January 2012, an individual recruited into the scheme searched their employer’s database and accessed the names and Social Security numbers (personal identity information or PII) of individual medical patients. This employee then provided a list of individuals’ PII in exchange for a cash payment made by defendant Augustin. Augustin and his co-conspirators then caused false and fraudulent tax returns seeking refunds to be filed with the Internal Revenue Service using the PII that the conspirators had so obtained.

Defendant Barnard (13-20684-CR-COOKE), who was also involved in this conspiracy, was sentenced on July 23, 2014 to 36 months in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay restitution of $57,000. Barnard pled guilty to one count of possession of 15 or more unauthorized access devices, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1029(a)(3) and 2, and one count of aggravated identity theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028A(a)(1).

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of IRS-CI and the USSS. These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys James V. Hayes and Gera Peoples.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.