Miami-Dade County Resident Sentenced to 81 Months in Prison in Identity Theft Scheme Involving Theft of Over 3,000 Stolen Identities

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 Providencia Llanos, a/k/a Providensia Llanos, a/k/a Providencia Allison, 36, of Miami Gardens, was sentenced to 81 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $42,828 in restitution.

Llanos previously pled guilty to one count of access device fraud, in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Section 1029(a)(3), and one count of aggravated identity theft, in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Section 1028A(a)(1).

According to court documents, on March 18, 2014, IRS-CI and USSS special agents conducted a search warrant at Llanos’ residence where they found numerous prepaid debit cards, multiple computers, and printed lists and notebooks containing the names, date of births, and social security numbers of at least 3,192 individuals. Eighty-six tax returns were filed from the IP address registered to the residence where Llanos lived using the names and social security numbers of individuals listed on the printed lists and notebooks. Numerous taxpayers stated that they did not know Llanos, that they did not authorize Llanos to possess their names, date of births, and social security numbers, and that they did not authorize Llanos to file federal tax returns for the 2013 tax year.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of IRS-CI and the USSS. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gera R. 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.