A state prisoner in eastern Kentucky has been sentenced to 129 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to submit false tax returns using the names of other prisoners.
William Helton, 37, of Mt. Sterling was sentenced for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.
The Department of Justice reported that in Helton’s plea agreement, he admitted that as a state prisoner serving time for convictions related to burglary, theft, and drugs, he and a co-conspirator outside of the prison, Jason Tyre, met and corresponded through a prison pen-pal program and developed a conspiracy in which they and other co-conspirators submitted multiple false tax returns, using the other people’s personal information to fraudulently obtain money for tax refunds.
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He also admitted that the conspiracy amounted to $390,000 of false tax refund claims over four years. He acknowledged that he obtained other prisoners’ personal information such as security numbers and gave that information to Tyre. The Department of Justice said that Tyre then filled out tax forms using the names and personal information of other prisoners. They say that Tyre then made false claims on the tax forms regarding items such as filing status, income, employment, and number of dependents, to maximize the refund amount. Helton said that he got Tyre to open bank accounts in Tyre’s name to hold the money from the fraudulent tax refunds and to wire the money to other co-conspirators once he received the tax refunds.
U.S . District Judge Danny Reevers also ordered Helton pay $96,522 in restitution plus interest.
Tyre is scheduled for sentencing on May 26.
