Last week, U. S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara sentenced a 25-year-old Tampa man to 54 months in federal prison. He entered a guilty plea on tax fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Roger Snells, who pleaded guilty on September 2nd, was also ordered to pay mandatory restitution of $26,164.61 to the U. S. Treasury.

According to court documents, Snells admitted to using the names and identifying information of deceased individuals. He electronically filed fraudulent federal tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service, and received tax refunds.

Law enforcement officials located more than 100 fraudulent tax returns on Snells’ laptop computer. Some of the returns were filed. Police said Snells intended to file the others. He reportedly submitted $165,599 false claims to the IRS, police said.

Police arrested Snells in September, along with 48 other defendants during the Operation Rainmaker investigation. The arrests were the culmination of task force investigation that began more than a year ago. Some of the agencies involved included the United States Secret Service, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, the Tampa Police Department, the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office, and the U. S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.