Immigrants get prison time in Kan. refund case




November 16, 2009 5:15 PM ET

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Two illegal immigrants from Mexico have been sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison for stealing tax refund checks from Texas workers and using phony IDs to cash them in Kansas.

Magdalit Ramirez and Rogaciano Ramirez-Diaz were sentenced on Monday. They are among seven immigrants charged with using fake Texas driver's licenses in the names of legal workers whose refund checks were stolen. The checks were cashed in Wichita and Hutchinson.

As part of a plea bargain, the two defendants pleaded guilty to possessing and using false documents to stay in the United States. Neither gave a statement at sentencing.

Prosecutors say about a dozen tax refund checks were processed at the Internal Revenue Service Center in Austin, Texas, and mailed to apartments in Austin, Houston and Dallas.

http://www.kvia.com/global/story.asp?s=11515999