31°
Toyosi Alatishe, also known as "Felix Victor Johnson", 51, was re-sentenced Tuesday, July 12, after he appealed his 2019 conviction and sentencing. The new sentence reduced the original by six months, and rejected a request for time served.
From 2012 to 2013, Alatishe misused his position as a caretaker for residents of a group home for individuals suffering from severe mental and physical disabilities, and used their information to file fraudulent tax returns, prosecutors said
Alatishe also used information from residents at a facility where his ex-wife worked, as well as eight other US taxpayers, according to allegations.
The returns were filed through an online tax filing company, and had the tax refunds deposited into bank accounts he controlled, one of which was an account opened using a fraudulent Nigerian passport under the alias of Felix Victor Johnson.
More than $30,000 in fraudulent returns were directly deposited into the Felix Victor Johnson bank account in March and April 2013.
The second scheme from January and April of 2015 included a co-conspirator in Florida who used information from an accountant to fraudulently purchase 2,000 prepaid debit cards from First View Financial, according to the Department of Justice.
The conspirator was able to get the cards mailed to a business who then forwarded the mail under the accountant's name to Alatishe's residence in Columbia, Maryland during five different shipments.
Evidence that the personal information of over 300 individuals from across the nation was used to file false returns with the IRS, officials said, and that the total value of the IRS funds from the cards exceeded $2.2 million.
Alatishe was also allegedly caught on camera repeatedly using ATMs at a bank in Columbia in March of 2015. The number of withdrawals caused the ATM to run out of money, prompting the financial institution to conduct an investigation.
Due to the investigation, the First View debit cards were frozen on March 17, 2015.
A search warrant executed in June 2016 recovered electronic evidence of Alatishe's involvement, as well as numerous amounts of physical evidence including handwritten lists with information from the identity theft victims.
Alatishe will also serve a period of supervised release following his release from prison and pay restitution in the amount of $2,287,959.67.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Elkton and receive free news updates.
