Federal agents arrested another bay area woman on alleged “drop” charges.
Ms. Belinda Brooks Smith, 46, was awakened early Tuesday and arrested. She has been indicted on 17 counts of tax fraud.
According to investigators, Ms. Brooks Smith has been charged with: 1 count of filing a false tax return; 6 counts of theft of government property in the form of tax refunds; 6 counts of aggravated identity theft; 3 counts of making false claims in the form of fraudulent tax returns; and 3 counts of identity theft.
According to court documents, police allege that in addition to filing her own false tax return, Ms. Brooks Smith also falsely used the names and social security numbers of other individuals to file fraudulent tax returns in their names. Investigators allege that she filed false tax returns in 2008 and 2009.
According to the Florida Department of Corrections web page, Ms. Brooks Smith was released from the Florida State Prison system in January 2007, after serving time for uttering a forged instrument, organized fraud, and two counts of grand theft.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office web page shows that she was arrested again in April 2008 on a warrant for fraudulent use of personal information and grand theft. The record also shows that she was arrested for violation of probation in December 2011.
The case is part of “Operation Rainmaker,” a coordinated effort involving several law enforcement organizations including the U. S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, U. S. Secret Service, Internal Revenue Service, United States Postal Inspection Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Tampa Police Department, and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
In September, the Joint Task Force arrested 49 individuals as part of “Operation Rainmaker.” Since that time, several other arrests have taken place.
In addition, some of those individuals entered guilty pleas and sentenced to serve federal prison time. They were also ordered to repay the money obtained as part of the income tax fraud.
