A Fulton County Superior Court clerk was taken into federal custody for his alleged involvement in a multi-million dollar income tax fraud ring.
Rance Claude Hunter allegedly sold the personal information of more than 1,000 inmates he had access to through a Fulton County database, according to federal court documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Another former Fulton government employee, Dwayne Biggs, allegedly received the inmates’ data from Hunter and then sold the information, which was then used to file and obtain fraudulent income tax refunds, court documents show. Others from Atlanta may also have been involved in the crime ring.
“The suspects electronically filed the fraudulent federal income tax returns, using interstate wire communications facilities, in order to generate and obtain tax refunds to which they were not entitled,” the criminal complaint against Hunter states. “Current fraudulent tax refunds filings attributed to this group are in excess of $12.5 million dollars.”
The majority of the stolen identity information came from the Fulton court system, court documents state.
“It’s disappointing. We have higher standards and expectations for all of our employees,” Fulton County Commission Chairman John Eaves told Channel 2 Action News. “I think these two individuals that are involved are just exceptions to the rule. The overwhelming employees uphold the standards of confidentiality.”
The investigation into the case is ongoing.
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