Venezuelan Sentenced to 16 Months of Time Served following Guilty Plea to Participating in UPMC Employee Data Hack

PITTSBURGH - A citizen of Venezuela pleaded guilty and was sentenced in federal court to time served for conspiring to defraud the United States, Acting United States Attorney Soo C. Song announced today.

Maritza Maxima Soler Nodarse pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, before United States District Judge Mark R. Hornak.

In connection with the guilty plea, the court was advised that in 2014, Soler Nodarse conspired with others to file approximately 935 false form 1040 tax returns using identities belonging to hundreds of UMPC employees whose personal information was stolen in an intrusion into UPMC’s database in Pittsburgh in 2014. Nodarse and others obtained illegal tax refunds in the form of Amazon.com gift cards which they used to purchase hundreds of thousands of dollars of electronic merchandise at Amazon.com and have shipped to locations in Venezuela where Nodarse and others lived. Approximately $156,000 in merchandise was ordered by and shipped to Nodarse. Nodarse was arrested in Colombia in March, 2015, and then extradited to the U.S. to face criminal charges in November, 2016.

According to the terms of her plea, Judge Hornak sentenced Soler-Nodarse to a “time served” sentence, which represented approximately 16 months incarceration. She also agreed to be immediately deported back to Venezuela.

Assistant United States Attorney Gregory C. Melucci is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.

The Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, the United States Secret Service and the United States Postal Inspection Service conducted the investigation that led to the prosecution of Maritz Maxima Soler Nodarse.