Jackson Woman Pleads Guilty To Stolen Identity Refund Fraud

Jackson, Miss – Ladonna Cooper, 30, of Jackson, pled guilty in federal court today to conspiring to defraud the United States, announced U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Davis, Resident Agent in Charge Allen Bryant of the U.S. Secret Service, and Acting Special Agent in Charge Damon Rowe of Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation.

Cooper, a former employee of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, admitted to conspiring to defraud the government by stealing personal identifying information, including names and social security numbers, from the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility located in Rankin County. The information was then used by others to file false tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service. The tax returns claimed that the tax payers were owed a refund. Those refunds were then electronically deposited into various bank accounts in Mississippi belonging to Cooper’s co-conspirators.

Cooper will be sentenced on July 18, 2013 and faces a maximum penalty of ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation with assistance from the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, the Mississippi Department of Corrections and the Mississippi Department of Revenue.