TAMPA —
With tax season in full force, police say tax fraud is continuing full-steam ahead among street criminals.
Detectives investigating suspected drug dealers during the weekend uncovered an income tax refund fraud scheme where hundreds of identities had been stolen, according to Tampa police. Investigators seized an estimated $600,000 worth of pre-loaded debit cards, more than $32,000 in fraudulent tax return checks and nearly $15,000 in cash.
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They also found a cardboard box with ledgers and personal information for hundreds of people, police said.
“This is a perfect example of what we’re up against,” said Detective Sal Augeri, who is overseeing the department’s investigation into the explosion in tax fraud. “Now you have bad guys dealing with the typical crimes that they do, but they also have the added benefit of the added cash surplus of the refund fraud which, in my opinion, makes them more dangerous.”
Tax refund fraud has exploded among street criminals across the U.S., but particularly in the Tampa area in recent years. Known in street parlance as TurboTax for the popular online filing program, the fraud involves the use of stolen Social Security numbers and other information to file tax returns that include falsified income amounts and deductions used to secure fraudulent refunds.
Augeri said the fraud this year is at least as prevalent as it was last year, when authorities say crooks stole hundreds of millions of dollars from federal taxpayers in the Tampa area alone.
According to police, detectives with ROC Squad 334 posed as customers Friday night to buy drugs from three suspects in the 5000 block of East 10th Avenue. Once the men arrived to sell the drugs, officers boxed in the suspects’ vehicle with patrol cars and caught the men after a brief chase, police said.
Officers searching the suspects’ vehicle found 67 TurboTax debit cards, the four fraudulent tax return checks, as well as the cash and the box of ledgers.
Although police estimated the debit cards were preloaded with $600,000 in fraudulent refund money, Augeri said there was really no way to know how much money is on the cards until the information is subpoenaed. “There could be zero on the card,” he said. “There could be up to $10,000 on the card.”
Police said they also found 48.7 grams of powder and rock cocaine, 100 grams of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
Arrested were Jason J. Christopher, 22, of 6216 N. 49th St., Tampa; Sondonnie Christopher, 22, of 7808 Donna Michelle Place No. 104, Tampa; and Damian L. Bowie, 21, of 13122 Leisure Wood Place, Tampa.
The three men were each charged with trafficking in cocaine, possession of marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia. Jason Christopher and Sondonnie Christopher also were charged with delivery of cocaine.
Augeri said the case was “a good arrest,” but that there is a lot of this type of crime in Tampa. These particular detectives, he said, “hit the mother lode.”
