Florida Sentinel Bulletin

[google-translator]

A 31-year-old Tampa man will serve time in federal prison for the theft of government funds. He was sentenced on Tuesday.

According to the U. S. Attorney’s Office, Rodney Andre McCray, of Tampa, entered a guilty plea on October 8^th. U. S. District Judge Susan C. Bucklew sentenced McCray to 18 months in prison.

In addition to the prison time, and as part of his sentence, McCray was ordered to pay $78,728 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service. Additionally, Judge Bucklew ordered McCray to repay $3,500 he received as proceeds of the theft.

According to court documents, during the summer of 2012, McCray opened a Bank of America account for the purpose of receiving “drop money.” His signature was the only authorized signature on the account, although he agreed to open the account with another individual.

After the account was opened, fraudulent federal income tax forms were filed with the Internal Revenue Service, and the refunds were deposited into McCray’s checking account.

Officials said the returns included false information and were filed in the name and on behalf of people who did not authorize, sign, or give permission for their information to be used. In several cases, the information was filed in the names of a deceased person.

In those instances, the returns were filed together, with a form stating that McCray was authorized to receive the refunds on behalf of the deceased person.

As a result of the scheme, McCray helped obtain fifteen fraudulently acquired U. S. Treasury checks through his account. The scheme netted $78,728 from the Treasury Department, officials said.