The case against a ninth defendant, Dwayne Biggs, was transferred to Georgia. He awaits sentencing. According to prosecutors, White played a key role in recruiting and organizing the scheme, which included acquiring stolen information, filing false tax returns and recruiting letter carriers.
He also moved the scheme to Houston in once he realized that law enforcement was "on their trail," the news release said. Willingham assisted in filing false tax returns, received packages containing refund cards from Shelton and recruited Vallier. Hunter had access to the Fulton County Sheriff's Office database in Georgia to access names, birth dates and Social Security numbers of people arrested, inmates and employees. He sold that information to Biggs, who provided the data to Ruffin — the conduit to co-conspirators in Houston.
The refunds often were deposited onto reloadable debit cards and mailed to addresses under the control of co-conspirators. Vallier, Jackson-Lezeau and Shelton allowed the cards to be mailed to addresses on their routes where they gathered the cards and sent them to scheme associates in Houston.
At the hearing Wednesday, a victim testified about how ID theft has left her with bad credit and depression. Vallier will serve two years. Thornton and Jackson-Lezeau each received nearly four years imprisonment. For conspiracy and ID theft convictions, Ruffin will serve four years and Hunter was sentenced to seven years. Additionally, once he recruited letter carriers, he instructed them to mail refund cards to him or Willingham.
He also moved the scheme to Houston when he realized law enforcement was on their trail. Willingham is considered to be the second in command. He entered into the conspiracy in when he was approached by White while in Georgia and continued with the scheme until their relocation to Houston in Not only did Willingham assist in the filing of the false tax returns, he recruited letter carriers and received the packages from Shelton as well.
Willingham was also responsible for recruiting Vallier to participate in in this scheme and provided instructions to Shelton regularly. While White and Willingham were the main leaders in this organization that committed tax fraud and identify theft on an unprecedented scale, in order for the conspiracy to function as efficiently as it did, they had to recruit trusted agents to assist them.
Ruffin acted as a conduit, funneling the stolen PII to the co-conspirators in Houston. The tax refunds generated by the fraudulent returns were often deposited onto reloadable debit cards and mailed to addresses under control of the conspirators. Vallier, Jackson-Lezeau and Shelton allowed fraudulent refunds to be mailed to addresses on their routes. After gathering the mail containing the refund debit cards, they sent them to their co-conspirators in Houston.
Shelton, White, Willingham and Thornton are in custody pending transfer to a U. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future, while Jackson, Vallier, Ruffin and Hunter were permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender at a later date.
Assistant U. Attorney Suzanne Elmilady is prosecuting the case. You are here U. Attorneys » Southern District of Texas » News. Department of Justice. Wednesday, November 4,
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