Thread: Ex-bank teller gets 4 years in scheme to defraud IRS of $1.7M

Ex-bank teller gets 4 years in scheme to defraud IRS of $1.7M
Tuesday, April 7, 2015, 4:51 PM

A former bank teller who bought stolen hospital patient information to file fraudulent tax returns was sentenced today to four years in federal prison.

Yanira Lopez, 29, was also ordered to pay $477,299 in restitution.

According to federal prosecutors, Lopez schemed with her husband, Rafael Henriquez Polanco, to collect more than $1.7 million in fraudulent tax refunds.

The couple paid employees at Community Hospital in Chester and Crozer‑Chester Medical Center in Upland to steal dozens of confidential medical records.After gleaning names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers, they opened several bank accounts at branches in West Chester, Exton and Brookhaven with counterfeit identification, prosecutors said.

With the bank accounts in place, they printed fake W-2 forms and filed 144 bogus tax returns. Many of the refunds were sent to marijuana grow houses under their control, according to court documents. Between February 2009 and September 2011, Lopez and Polanco collected federal tax refunds totaling $257,710.79.

Polanco, an illegal alien from the Dominican Republic, lived with Lopez in Chester Springs before his arrest in 2012, according to court documents.

Lopez and Polanco both pleaded guilty to tax fraud, passport fraud, aggravated identity theft and presentation of an immigration application containing a false statement. Polanco also pleaded guilty to drug trafficking counts. Additionally, Lopez pleaded guilty to wire fraud.

Polanco was sentenced in February to 27 months in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution of $409,779.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Ex...maa0OJYz1VB.99

Looks like 130,000 annual net for prison time. Then how much did the marijuana make them. Who says that crime does not pay? Was that government falsehood propaganda, too? Crime does not pay?