Plantation Resident Sentenced to More Than 9 Years in Prison for Identity Theft Scheme Involving Income Tax, Unemployment, and Credit Card Fraud

A Plantation resident was sentenced today to 111 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release for his participation in a scheme utilizing stolen identities to commit income tax, unemployment, and credit card fraud.  A restitution hearing is scheduled for January 5, 2016.

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), Rafiq Ahmad, Special Agent in Charge, United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations Miami Office (DOL-OIG), Brian Swain, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Secret Service (USSS), Miami Field Office, and John E. Brooks, Chief, Sunrise Police Department, made the announcement.

Leonce V. Jeudy, 25, previously pled guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 841(a)(1), two counts of access device fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1029(a)(2) and 1029(a)(3), and one count of aggravated identity theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028A.

According to court documents, on January 7, 2015, a detective with the Sunrise Police Department initiated a traffic stop of a vehicle driven by Jeudy.  After smelling the odor of marijuana emanating from  the vehicle, the detective conducted a search of the car and found a loaded handgun, ammunition, approximately twenty credit cards in various names, new iPhones and iPads, bank records of an unrelated individual, and receipts of four Visa debit cards purchased earlier that day for approximately $2,000. 

Police officers obtained a state search warrant for Jeudy’s residence.  During the execution of the warrant, officers found more than 100 credit and debit cards in the names of various individuals, numerous documents with the personally identifying information (“PII”) of different individuals, along with various electronic devices including numerous computers, thumb drives, and cellular telephones.  The officers also recovered from an AK-47 rifle, hundreds of rounds of different caliber ammunition, butylone, ethylone (commonly known as “Mollys”), several smaller packages of powder and crack cocaine, and other drug paraphernalia.

Subsequent forensic analysis by federal law enforcement of the recovered digital devices revealed more than 8,000 sets of PII.  In addition, an analysis revealed that some of the recovered debit cards had received approximately $30,000 in fraudulent income tax refunds and were associated with fraudulent unemployment insurance claims.  Law enforcement determined that Jeudy was responsible for filing unemployment insurance benefits claims totaling $100,000.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of IRS-CI, DOL-OIG, USSS, and the Sunrise Police Department.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Kobrinski. 

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.