ALABAMA — A man who was involved in a scheme to steal IDs to file over 1,000 federal and state income tax returns and claim more than $1 million in fraudulent refunds was sentenced to nine years and two months in prison, according to authorities.
Harvey James was sentenced today for his role in a stolen identity refund fraud scheme, federal officials said.
In October, James plead guilty to one count of mail fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft . He was also ordered to pay $618,042 in restitution.
Officials said that from January 2010 to 2012, James and his sister, Jacqueline Slaton, obtained stolen identities from various individuals, including one person who had access to inmate information from the Alabama Department of Corrections.
James and others used those inmate names to file federal and state tax returns that claimed fraudulent refunds.
James directed some of the false refunds to prepaid debit cards, and directed others to be issued in the form of a Treasury check.
Authorities said Vernon Harrison, a U.S. Postal Service employee, provided James with addresses from his postal route, which were used as mailing addresses for the fraudulent prepaid debit cards and state tax refund checks.
Harrison collected the debit cards and checks and provided them to another individual, who in turn gave them to James and Slaton, officials said.
In total, James filed over 1,000 federal and state income tax returns that claimed over $1 million in fraudulent tax refunds, officials said.
Slaton was sentenced to serve five years and 10 months in behind bars; Harrison was sentenced to serve nine years and two months in prison.