Federal agents arrested Anthony Gosha (aka Boo Boo) of Phoenix City, Alabama yesterday for filing fraudulent tax returns. Other charges include conspiring to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft. A federal grand jury returned an indictment yesterday on Gosha, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
The indictment says Gosha used stolen IDs to file over 7,000 tax returns with the IRS totaling more than $19 million in fraudulent refunds. Some of the ID’s were stolen from an Alabama state agency.
According to the indictment, Gosha and his co-conspirators obtained Electronic Filing Identification Numbers in the names of a fake tax prep businesses that they used to file the fraudulent returns.
The indictment alleges that the group asked the IRS to issue their refunds to prepaid debit cards, U.S. Treasury checks, and various banks. They also recruited U.S. Postal Service carriers to provide addresses on their mail routes to which the fraudulently obtained refund checks could be sent. Once the refund checks were received, the checks were cashed at several businesses in Alabama and Georgia.
If convicted, Gosha faces up to 10 years in prison for the conspiracy charge, up to 20 years in prison for each count of wire and mail fraud, and a mandatory minimum two years for each count of aggravated identity theft. He also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, forfeiture and monetary penalties.
An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
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