Miami Resident Sentenced In Identity Theft Tax Fraud Scheme Involving Baptist Health System Patient Information

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Michael J. DePalma, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), announced today’s sentencing of defendant Cristobal Raul Puig, 25, of Miami. Puig was sentenced to 31 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.

Puig previously pled guilty to one count of possessing 15 or more social security numbers of other persons, with corresponding names and dates of birth, and one count of knowingly using, without lawful authority, the means of identification of another person.

According to court documents, an employee of Baptist Health System’s West Kendall location sold the names, dates of birth, social security numbers, and addresses of hospital patients to Puig. Defendant Puig then used the stolen patient identification information to file unauthorized income tax returns. At the time of his arrest, Puig was in possession of a list containing the names, dates of birth, social security numbers, and addresses of 20 recent hospital patients.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of IRS-CI. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurice A. Johnson.

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.