“Federal agents swept through South Florida this week to arrest about 40 people charged with the viral-spreading crimes of identity theft and tax-refund fraud.
U.S. Attorney Wifredo Ferrer said the takedown was the biggest yet since his office established a strike force to target the companion scams in August 2012.
“This continues to be the fastest-growing and most-pervasive fraud scheme aimed at stealing our tax dollars,†Ferrer told the Miami Herald Thursday. “But we’re on it. We want to send a message before the tax season begins because it’s fast approaching.â€
Among the line-up of defendants appearing in Miami federal court: A West Miami-Dade man who had been severely beaten while in the custody of Sweetwater police a decade ago and later received a $2 million settlement from the city.
Now Peter Michael Daniel, 29, is penniless.
The one-time operator of a personal-watercraft rental business said he has no income and no assets, so a magistrate judge assigned a federal public defender to represent him.
“What happened to all the money?†his father, Roberto Daniel, said outside the courtroom. “I don’t know. He was very young when he got the money. He just went through it. He has nothing.â€
Daniel pleaded not guilty to a charge of possessing at least 15 Social Security numbers belonging to others. Those numbers are typically used or sold for filing phony tax returns, though Daniel was not charged with defrauding the Internal Revenue Service.”
