6 indicted in tax scheme that stole identities of dead

Six people have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Las Vegas in what authorities say was a $2.7 million tax refund scheme that stole identities of the dead.

The defendants — Andrew Hanzelic, 45, Brian Summers, 32, Ronald Kelly 40, Clint Tarrant, 54, and Terry Williamson, 59, all of Las Vegas, and Kelly Coyan, 53, of Kansas — each are charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. Some of the defendants face other charges, including aggravated identity theft and theft of government funds.

In all, the indictment contains 81 counts and alleges the scheme unfolded between 2009 and 2011.

The defendants obtained the refunds from the IRS by submitting false tax returns under the names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers of more than 30 dead people, according to the indictment.

The refunds ranged from roughly $3,000 to $7,000, the indictment states.

"A major priority of the Department of Justice is prosecuting people who use stolen identities to steal money from the United States Treasury by filing fake tax returns that claim substantial tax refunds," Nevada U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden said Friday.

"Working to stop Stolen Identity Refund Fraud, or SIRF, is vital because these schemes threaten to disrupt the orderly administration of our income tax system for hundreds of thousands of law abiding taxpayers and have cost the United States Treasury billions of dollars."

Hanzelic is alleged to have charged a commission to co-conspirators for the personal identity information he obtained from online genealogical databases.

Several defendants made phony driver's licenses, Social Security cards and W-2 tax forms in the names of the dead people before filing the tax returns, either electronically or through the mail, the indictment alleges.

An unindicted co-conspirator provided phony email and home addresses for the tax returns and others were trained to prepare the false returns, according to the indictment.

Hanzelic opened banks accounts under the name of Leon Rice and Refunds & Rebates Management to deposit the illegal refunds the group obtained from the IRS, the indictment alleges.

Williamson is alleged to have manged the Refunds & Rebates account and distributed funds to the co-conspirators for their personal benefit. He also opened another bank account under Lyn Style Holdings with money stolen from the IRS, the indictment alleges.

Authorities say some of the ill-gotten gains also were deposited into pre-loaded debit cards controlled by the conspirators.

According to the indictment, Williamson and Hanzelic paid salaries to their co-conspirators with stolen funds from the bank accounts.

The indictment was filed last month and unsealed this week with the arrests of some of the defendants. IRS Criminal Investigation in Las Vegas pursued the case.

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Find him on Twitter: @JGermanRJ.