A Tomball man was recently sentenced to three years of probation, after pleading guilty to aiding and abetting device fraud in federal court.
Troy Alexander Tipton, 21, was charged, after federal prosecutors said he sold Spring cellular phone customer data and access information to another man. Tipton was an employee of Modern Wireless at the time. Tipton pleaded guilty to the charges last August.
Prosecutors said that Tipton sold data from at least 400 customer accounts to Vernon R. Parker of Houston, from April through October of 2011. Parker then directed Lakreshia Shana Smith, 28 and Frederick Sears, 38, both of Houston, to make claims for replacement or additional cell phones using the stolen accounts.
Sears and Smith were arrested after U.S. Secret Service agents followed them around the Houston area and observed them picking up packages containing the cell phones.
"The conspirators had placed phone and internet orders for either replacement phones, or additional phones to be charged to unknowing customers of Sprint," U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson's office said in a statement. "The packages were mailed from Sprint locations outside of Texas to various hotels and apartments as directed by the conspirators. The total loss to Sprint is estimated at more than $136,000 attributable to the Parker organization."
Smith was given probation by Judge Lee Rosenthal, while Sears was ordered to serve 18 months in federal prison. Parker, the ring leader of the group, was sentenced to 51 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised parole.
Parker will remain in local custody until he is transferred to a federal prison in the near future.
HOUSTON (AP) — An ex-Army pay agent from Texas has been accused of theft and fraud related to military invoices he processed in Iraq.
Prosecutors in Houston on Thursday announced the indictment of Abuzuike O. Ukabam of Humble. Investigators allege the former Army captain, who was arrested Wednesday in Los Angeles, stole about $110,000.
A nine-count indictment returned July 30 and unsealed Wednesday charges Ukabam with wire fraud, theft of government property, money laundering and making false statements.
Ukabam in 2006 deployed to Iraq and processed invoices from Iraqi contractors working for the U.S. military.
Prosecutors accuse Ukabam of changing some totals, paying the contractor the original amount and keeping the difference.
Ukabam is expected to be returned to Houston.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A man who faked being the son of a South Texas judge to con money from people with legal troubles has been sentenced to two years in state jail.
Another judge in San Antonio on Tuesday sentenced 37-year-old Mark David Leal.
Leal in March pleaded no contest to theft of $3,500 from a man facing drug possession and drunken driving charges.
Prosecutors say Leal falsely claimed his mother was Judge Juanita Vasquez-Gardner and that she would delete the charges from a court computer.
The scam surfaced in 2011 when the charges weren't dropped and the duped man mailed a threatening letter to the unknowing judge. The swindled man, who pleaded guilty to the drug charge and sending the threat, cooperated in the investigation.
Vasquez-Gardner failed in her 2012 re-election bid.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service has been looking the other way instead of rooting out fraud when people apply for taxpayer identification numbers, Treasury Department investigators said Wednesday, exposing a shortfall with both financial and national security implications.
A member of Congress who sits on the House's tax-writing committee responded to the report by calling on IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman to resign, claiming the IRS is helping illegal immigrants defraud the government.
Non-citizens without Social Security numbers have to get ID numbers from the IRS to claim tax refunds. Their applications for ID numbers are processed at an IRS center in Austin, Texas.
J. Russell George, the Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration, said investigators looking into the application process found "an environment which discourages employees from detecting fraudulent applications."
Instead, IRS employees were encouraged to process as many ID applications as possible, George said in his report. In addition, investigators learned that the IRS had quit using successful fraud-detection measures in processing the applications.
"There is a potential that erroneous tax refunds are going to non-qualifying individuals, allowing them to defraud the federal government of billions of dollars," investigators wrote in the report.
Once ID numbers are obtained fraudulently, they can be used for other deceptions. When first introduced in 1996, the ID numbers were supposed to be used only for taxes. But investigators found they're now being used in several states to get driver's licenses.
Almost 3 million tax returns seeking $6.8 billion were filed last year using IRS ID numbers rather than Social Security numbers. Investigators said they couldn't put a number on how many of those returns may have been fraudulent.
At issue are the documentation requirements for verifying the identity of those who apply for an ID number. Unlike applications for a passport or a Social Security number, applicants for the ID number weren't required to submit certified copies of their birth certificate or other identification.
IRS managers had been aware of the problem since at least 2002, but failed to take sufficient action, investigators said. Tax examiners at the agency also complained to investigators they had little to no training in how to root out fraudulent applications.
IRS officials responding to the report said they already had taken action to address the problem. In June, the agency started requiring original or certified documents until new rules can be developed for 2013.
"Our leadership moved quickly and aggressively to address issues that were identified," IRS spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge said.
Treasury investigators said the IRS has agreed to adopt seven of their nine recommendations for correcting the problem and is still considering the other two.
In a letter to Shulman calling for his resignation, Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, cited investigators' findings that people sought $4.2 billion in refundable child tax credits last year using IRS ID numbers.
"The commissioner and certain IRS officials are essentially aiding and abetting illegal immigrants and others in fraudulently receiving tax refunds courtesy of the American taxpayer," Johnson said in a statement.
IRS officials declined to comment on Johnson's letter.
Follow Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — An unemployed man suspected of faking his own drowning at a New York beach to collect on life insurance has been re-arrested and will be freed on bail again.
Raymond Roth pleaded not guilty to the latest charges Thursday.
Nassau County prosecutors say Roth called his estranged wife Wednesday night.
His lawyer says Roth didn't understand an order of protection and had recently tried to commit suicide.
He was arrested earlier Wednesday on charges including conspiracy to commit insurance fraud. He pleaded not guilty and was released on $100,000 bail.
His son Jonathan, who told police his father drowned, faces the same charges.
After he vanished, authorities conducted an extensive search for days. Roth was reported to be in Florida. On Aug. 2, he got a speeding ticket in Santee, S.C.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
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