A New Jersey woman who was part of a crew that stole about $565,000 in tax refund checks has been sentenced to more than 13 years in federal prison.
Awilda Henriquez, 36, of Clementon, has also been ordered to pay restitution and will be subject to three years of supervised release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Jersey said Monday.
Authorities said that in 2013, 3,300 Stolen Identity Refund Fraud tax returns were filed using the names and Social Security numbers of residents of Puerto Rico and the refunds were directed to be mailed to a small section of Pennsauken.
“Stolen Identity Refund Fraud is a common type of fraud committed against the United States government that involves the use of stolen identities to commit tax refund fraud,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Henriquez and her associates paid U.S. postal service employees to steal checks out of the mail and give them to “check couriers” to cash them at check cashing businesses, prosecutors said. The postal employees, check couriers and check cashing business employees were all paid to participate in the scheme.
The couriers used fake identification to cash the checks as well.
Henriquez was convicted in December of 13 counts of theft of government money and 13 counts of aggravated identity theft following a 10-day trial in Camden.
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.
Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com.
Ad Choices