Two Bay area men have been charged in connection with tax fraud in separate investigations. Both men are being held in the Pinellas County Jail.
According to court documents, on July 31, 2011, Clearwater Police Department conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle 23-year-old Carlos Oscar Johnson was driving. They reportedly found five debit cards believed to be related to tax refund fraud and contacted an agent with the IRS.
The agent launched an investigation and discovered that Johnson and others were allegedly involved in a scheme to defraud the federal government.
The cards were reportedly loaded and with tax refunds from five different people. Johnson had allegedly made several purchases on the cards, the court records showed. Some of those purchases included airplane tickets and a hotel stay at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The investigation also revealed that from about February 23, 2012 to October 2, 2012, at least 173 fraudulent tax returns have been filed from Johnson’s residence. Johnson is alleged to have field at least 42 fraudulent tax refunds during two stays at a hotel. The 173 refunds requested were valued at $1.3 million in refund amounts. Johnson is accused of having filed more than 200 fraudulent tax returns worth a total of $1.7 million. Johnson was arrested Friday.
In a separate investigation, police arrested Larry Lee Northern, Jr., on October 22nd. He is also awaiting trial in the Pinellas County Jail.
According to court documents, Northern, 28, is accused of theft from the government and aggravated identity theft. In November 2011, the Florida Highway Patrol arrested Northern after a traffic stop. At the time of his arrest, he was charged with possession of marijuana.
During the search following the arrest, police found two cell phones, 15 Green Dot prepaid debit cards in several names, and 17 Walmart MoneyGram gift cards.
Police confiscated corporate documents that contained personal information of 32 clients of Optimum Healthcare, Inc. Eight of the cards had the same names listed on the Optimum documents. Northern had never been an employee of Optimum, the court document stated.
After being read his rights, Northern reportedly told police that he was not responsible for making the prepaid debit cards, but a female asked him if he wanted to make some extra money by delivering the cards. He refused to provide any additional information.
During a search of the vehicle, police discovered $15,700 in cash and a laptop computer.
The 2009 Dodge Challenger Northern was driving was still in the name of the previous owner. When contacted by police, the seller said Northern had paid him $20,000 for the vehicle.
Northern pleaded guilty to the state charges of trafficking in counterfeit credit cards and possession of cannabis. He was sentenced to 90 days in the Manatee County Jail and scheduled for a release date of October 19.
The income tax refunds claimed on 154 returns totaled $121,642. Federal agents arrested Northern on federal charges on October 22.
