Two Clayton County men were arrested Friday for allegedly claiming $15 million in federal tax refunds using personal information they obtained by promising “Obama stimulus payments.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta said Kevin Joseph Sonnier, 44, of Ellenwood and Bernardo Davis, 26, of Morrow were arrested on a criminal complaint charging them with wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to defraud the government.
According to the criminal complaint, Sonnier and Davis filed more than 15,000 false tax returns in 2011 and 2012 using names and Social Security numbers from a website they set up touting the stimulus payments. Prosecutors said the offer of stimulus payments was bogus.
Federal agents on Friday searched two locations: Sonnier Tax Service in Morrow and Kevin Sonnier’s residence in Ellenwood.
In the last three weeks, federal prosecutors in Atlanta have charged or arrested several people with tax refund fraud:
• On Jan. 29, Jarred Ryan Corker, 26, of Marietta was arrested on a charge of theft of government property for allegedly possessing debit cards containing fraudulently obtained tax refunds. According to the criminal complaint, Atlanta Police Department officers found a stack of 21 Visa debit cards issued by TurboTax and about $7,100 in cash in Corker’s possession during a traffic stop. The criminal complaint charges that the TurboTax debit cards were loaded with tax refunds issued by the Internal Revenue Service based on fraudulently filed 2011 federal tax returns.
• On Jan. 28, Frederick Roberts, 51, of Atlanta was arrested on a federal indictment for charging him with filing false tax returns with the IRS. Roberts was charged with three counts of mail fraud, three counts of aggravated identity theft, and three counts of filing a false claim against the United States. According to the indictment, Roberts filed false tax returns with the IRS seeking refunds in the names of people whose identities were stolen.
• On Jan. 15, Amechi Igabari, 25, of Marietta was indicted on charges of theft of government funds and aggravated identity theft. According to the indictment, which was unsealed this week, Igabari claimed bogus tax refunds by using the stolen Social Security numbers of at least 15 individuals. Igbari is still at large.
In addition, the Georgia Attorney General's Office announced Thursday that five metro Atlanta women had been indicted on charges of filing false tax returns to claim thousands of dollars in refunds from the state. The women were charged with racketeering and theft by taking.
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