{"id":12835,"date":"2012-02-13T16:51:36","date_gmt":"2012-02-13T21:51:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=12835"},"modified":"2012-02-13T17:09:51","modified_gmt":"2012-02-13T22:09:51","slug":"police-send-more-than-100-%e2%80%98drop%e2%80%99-cases-to-irs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=12835","title":{"rendered":"Police Send More Than 100 \u2018Drop\u2019 Cases To IRS"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY IRIS B. HOLTON<\/strong>
\n Sentinel City Editor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last fall, a year-long investigation resulted in the arrest of several individuals. Known as \u201cOperation Rainmaker,\u201d the investigation focused on theft and tax fraud.<\/p>\n

The joint task force executed the first level of arrests in what has become known as the drop scam with more than 40 arrests. Since that time, several others have been taken into custody and charged with grand theft and identity theft by the Tampa Police Department.<\/p>\n

However, Ms. Laura McElroy<\/strong>, spokesperson for the Tampa Police Department said that although many of the defendants have already gone to state court, they could face other charges.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t charge them with tax fraud because that is a federal offense. We have charged them with grand theft and identity theft. But, we have sent more than 100 cases to the Internal Revenue Service for violations of the tax code.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis means that even though they make have been to state court, they can still face federal charges for tax fraud,\u201d Ms. McElroy<\/strong> said.<\/p>\n

The investigation began more than two years ago and culminated with arrests as \u201cOperation Rainmaker\u201d last September.<\/p>\n

Police discovered that several suspects were obtaining the personal information of individuals, living or dead, and filing a tax refund in that person\u2019s name. The refunds were received on a prepaid debit card, treasury check through the U. S. mail, or through direct deposit.<\/p>\n

The task force included the United States Secret Service, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Hillsborough County Sheriff\u2019s Office, the Tampa Police Department, the Hillsborough County State Attorney\u2019s Office, and the U. S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Middle District of Florida.<\/p>\n

As the 2012 tax season begins, some individuals are discovering that their personal information has already been used to file a federal tax return.<\/p>\n

Ms. McElroy<\/strong> said, the department receives several complaints a week. \u201cWe are continuing to work with the Hillsborough County Sheriff\u2019s Office, the Secret Service and the Postal Service. Our investigation is ongoing and very active,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ms. McElroy<\/strong> said that rather than a sudden spike in reports because of tax season, \u201cIt appears that the complaints of identity theft are fairly constant.\u201d[private]<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some of those who were arrested last year include: Marterrance \u201cQuat\u201d Holloway, Kenneth Goodson, Quincy Wimberly, Janica Bullock, Raid Faria, Reem Faria, Russell Simmons, Jr., Derrick Parker, Deemma Coleman, Bobby Mosley, Jr., Micah Alexander, Jeff Borgelin, Kenyarta Gaines, Alexis Harrison, Sheila Allen, Damien Harrison, Serio Miller, Eric Ingram, Roger Snells, Danielle Denson, Patrick Shaw, Tarrananzton Barr, Alexander Lennox, Hantz St. Marc, Kahaldoun \u201cTony\u201d Khawaja, Dwayne Johnson, Brinton Gaston, and Michael Williams.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rachel Amone<\/strong>s, Roger Snells, Patrick Shaw, Tarrananzton Barr, Patricia Shaw, Shawntrece Sims<\/strong>, and Jacqueline Ferreira<\/strong> have been convicted and sentenced to federal prison.[\/private]<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pictured, l to r: Roger Snells, Patrick Shaw, Patricia Shaw and Rachel Amones<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor Last fall, a year-long investigation resulted in the arrest of several individuals. Known as \u201cOperation Rainmaker,\u201d the investigation focused on theft and tax fraud. The joint task force executed the first level of arrests in what has become known as the drop scam with more than 40 arrests. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12835\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}