Teresia Jones, 34, of Holland, was sentenced to seven years in prison by District Judge Jack Zouhary after earlier pleading guilty to wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering.
Ms. Jones received five years for wire fraud and money laundering and an additional two years for aggravated identity theft which must be served consecutively.
She also was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $2,929,519, a $300 special assessment and serve two years of supervised release.
According to court records and testimony beginning in January 2020, she defrauded the IRS through a wide-ranging tax refund scheme by submitting false and fraudulent tax filings using stolen identities and claiming millions of dollars in improper tax refunds.
Ms. Jones then used these funds for personal spending. This tax refund scheme used stolen identity information from real people and businesses. She prepared and filed fraudulent tax returns electronically.
In addition, she laundered the stolen tax funds by purchasing a 2022 Cadillac Escalade for more than $150,000, real property and other transactions. The vehicle was forfeited by the government along with a 2022 Dodge Ram truck, two parcels of real property and approximately $328,000 seized from bank accounts.
The investigation was conducted by the IRS Criminal Investigations and the United States Secret Service. The case was being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gene Crawford.
