Recently, a multi-jurisdictional law enforcement task force arrested 49 people in \u201cOperation Rainmaker.\u201d The individuals allegedly filed fraudulent tax returns and receiving money not owed to them to the U. S. Government.<\/p>\n
According to the U. S. Attorney\u2019s Office Middle District of Florida one of those defendants had been previously arrested for tax fraud. She was on similar charges while out of jail on bond awaiting sentencing. According to court documents filed by the U. S. Attorney\u2019s Office, Ms. Sims<\/strong> signed a plea agreement on previous charges on February 14th. She appeared before U. S. Magistrate Judge Thomas G. Wilson<\/strong> on March 17th and pleaded guilty to one count of making a false claim and one count of mail fraud.<\/p>\n During the court appearance, Ms. Sims<\/strong> allegedly admitted to preparing and electronically filing false income tax\u00a0 returns, which totaled $263,004.00 in 2008. She was awaiting sentencing and released on a $10,000 bond. Most Recent Charges<\/strong> Between January 29th and May 2011, Ms. Sims<\/strong> and other defendants are accused of filing 52 fraudulent tax returns. Ms. Sims<\/strong> is alleged to have filed multiple false claims on behalf of 7 deceased people all with the same last name two days after she signed the plea agreement.<\/p>\n Investigators said Ms. Sims<\/strong> forwarded the refunds to an address in West Palm Beach and then had the checks delivered to her. Investigators said she also used her own address as well as that of a motel to prevent police from tracing the IP address of the computer back to her. [private]<\/strong><\/p>\n Tubal Ligation Reversal<\/strong> Court documents stated that she paid $6,600 for a tubal ligation surgery despite having no job, no money, and no assets. Investigators obtained payment records that showed Ms. Sims<\/strong> paid $4,500 in cash and the remaining balance on a pre-paid Mastercard issued in her name on March 31, 2011.<\/p>\n The card had reportedly been loaded with $3,453 on March 17, 2011, the same day she appeared before Judge Wilson<\/strong> and entered a guilty plea. Investigators said Ms. Sims<\/strong> received $3,460 in cash from cards on February 19, 2011.<\/p>\n Previous Arrests<\/strong><\/p>\n Police said Ms. Sims<\/strong> and other defendants were involved in connection with 44 counts of tax fraud during the 2008 tax season. She and other defendants allegedly obtained the identification of individuals, both living and dead, and filed dozens of false income tax returns.<\/p>\n The investigation revealed that the fraudulent tax returns were claimed on 1099 tax forms and listed the filers occupations as barbers, hair stylists, lawn care and caretakers. The income ranges were between $10,000 and $32,000, which resulted in the federal government owing the filer a refund.<\/p>\n Some of the refunds were direct deposited into personal accounts, some placed on prepaid debt cards, and some mailed to physical addresses.<\/p>\n Police said on May 12, 2009, Ms. Sims<\/strong> filed a 1040 Individual Tax Return in the name of \u201cJ. C.<\/strong>,\u201d using his name and social security number, but her home address. The return showed the government owed \u201cJ. C.<\/strong>\u201d $6,610.<\/p>\n Investigators learned that \u201cJ.C.\u201d<\/strong> had not worked since suffering a stroke in 2002, did not earn any income in 2008, had never met Ms. Sims<\/strong>, and had not authorized her to use his personal information on his behalf. He was unaware that a tax form had been filed in his name and did not receive any of the refund.<\/p>\n The prepaid card with $6,910 was mailed to Ms. Sims\u2019<\/strong> address on a prepaid ATM card on May 14th.[\/private]<\/strong><\/p>\n ***Look for full story in Tuesday’s Sentinel<\/em>***<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Recently, a multi-jurisdictional law enforcement task force arrested 49 people in \u201cOperation Rainmaker.\u201d The individuals allegedly filed fraudulent tax returns and receiving money not owed to them to the U. S. Government. According to the U. S. Attorney\u2019s Office Middle District of Florida one of those defendants had been previously arrested for tax fraud. She […]<\/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-9856","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\/9856","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=9856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9856\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nMs. Shawntrece Sims<\/strong>, 31, was arrested on August 11th and is being held without bond with a hold for the U. S. Marshal.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nThe U. S. Attorney\u2019s Office alleges that while released from jail on bond, Ms. Sims<\/strong> was involved in the filing of numerous false tax returns during the first half of 2011. She allegedly received $409,883.00 in fraudulent tax refunds from the Internal Revenue Service this year, the document stated.<\/p>\n
\nAccording to the court documents, Ms. Sims<\/strong> allegedly used money obtained by fraudulent means for a medical procedure. She allegedly attempted to become pregnant prior to sentencing.<\/p>\n