Homestead Resident Sentenced For Tax Refund Fraud

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Antonio J. Gomez, Acting Inspector in Charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and José A. Gonzalez, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CID), announced today’s sentencing of defendant Kilwoind Jones, 28, of Homestead, Florida, on charges of theft of government monies resulting from her participation in a stolen identity tax refund scheme. At today’s hearing, U.S. District Judge William J. Zloch sentenced Jones to 32 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.

On October 5, 2012, a federal grand jury charged Kilwoind Jones with receiving stolen U.S. Treasury refund checks having forged signatures, with possessing stolen mail, and theft of government money. On January 10, 2013, Kilwoind pled guilty to Count 7 of the Superseding indictment, which charged the defendant with theft of government property, and Count 10 of the Superseding Indictment, which charged the defendant with aggravated identity theft.

During the plea hearing, Kilwoind admitted to receiving three stolen U.S. Treasury tax refund checks and to depositing the three stolen U.S. Treasury tax refund checks with the forged signatures into her bank account.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the Identity Theft Tax Refund Strike Force, with special commendation to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and IRS-CI. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney 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.