Last Thursday, a federal jury found a Tampa bail bondsman guilty of several charges. His sentencing hearing is planned for October 8, 2013.
Freddie Wilson, 39, owner of Against All Odds Bail Bonds, (AAO), 5006 E. Broadway, Suite #7, was charged with engaging in the theft of government funds and willfully obstructing a criminal investigation.
On Thursday, he was found guilty of six counts of theft of government funds, five counts of aggravated identity theft, one count of money laundering, and one count of obstruction of justice. Wilson faces a maximum penalty of ten years in federal prison on each count of theft of government funds, two years’ consecutive imprisonment on each count of aggravated identity theft, ten years’ imprisonment for money laundering, and five years’ imprisonment for obstruction of justice.
According to police, Wilson opened an account at the Wells Fargo Bank on May 8, 2012, and deposited 18 U. S. Treasury checks, worth $53,061, into the account. All of the checks were payable to third parties and were either payments of income tax refunds or Social Security.
“Records show the funds were quickly depleted after the U. S. Treasury checks were deposited,” police said in the affidavit. The bank closed the account on October 11, 2012.
Wilson opened a bank account at Hancock Bank on June 22, 2012. He allegedly deposited 376 U. S. Treasury checks, valued at $312,759 into the account. None of the checks were made payable to him, police said.
The checks were in the names of different people who told police they did not authorize anyone to use their personal information.
In January 2013, a federal search warrant was executed at AAO and agents seized a 2011 Camaro and approximately $8,600 in cash.
During the execution of the search warrant, agents seized six boxes of documents. A few weeks later, an attorney representing Wilson spoke with investigators and told them that Wilson needed some of the documents seized to continue operating his business.
The agents agreed to allow Wilson to copy three boxes of the documents at a local FedEx copying center. After about three weeks, on March 14th, the agent returned to the center to retrieve the documents and learned that someone had taken the copies as well as the original documents.
The agent stated in the affidavit that he contacted one of the attorneys representing Wilson and was told that Wilson would return the documents on March 16th, at 8:30 a.m. However, the agent said Wilson did not keep the agreement.
When the agent returned to the copy center on March 18th, to retrieve the documents, half of them (one-and-one-half boxes) were missing and not returned by Wilson.
The agent stated in the affidavit that “Wilson was uncooperative with law enforcement with regard to both the search and seizure warrants and did not want to turn over the Camaro.”
Wilson subsequently obstructed the criminal investigation by taking records that were seized during the search warrant and failing to return them to the government.
Wilson reportedly spent all of the money that he received from the fraudulent tax returns on personal expenses, including the purchase of the 2011 Chevrolet Camaro, mortgage payments, expensive restaurants, hotels, and spent more than $30,000 at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino, investigators said.
He also cash checks payable to himself for $110,445, the agent wrote.
