Former SunTrust teller latest sentenced in $24 million tax refund scam

A former Columbus bank teller was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison on Thursday for her role in the criminal conspiracy to steal money from the IRS in a $24 million tax return scam.

Tonya Alexander, who worked for SunTrust Bank in Columbus for 20 years, was sentenced to 37 months by U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land in the Columbus federal courthouse.

Alexander, 45, was indicted in May and charged with one count of conspiracy to commit theft of public money and 10 counts of theft of public money. She pleaded guilty to the theft of public money charge and the others were dismissed by Land as part of a plea agreement. Land’s sentence was at the bottom end of the federal sentencing guidelines, which called for 37 months to 46 months.

Alexander did not address the court when Land gave her the opportunity. Her attorney, Jennifer Curry, told the court that Alexander approached the sentencing with a “heavy heart.”

“She did not know the nature of the checks in the beginning, but they kept coming and kept coming,” Curry told the court. “Once she figured out they were fraudulent, she did cash more checks.”

Between June 2012 and December 2013, Alexander worked as a bank teller at the SunTrust main branch in downtown Columbus, according to the indictment. She was allegedly approached by several co-conspirators who wanted her to cash fraudulently tax refund checks in exchange for a fee. The income tax refunds were generated by tax returns filed using stolen identities. It is also alleged that Alexander recruited another bank teller to assist her in cashing the fraudulent checks. In total, Alexander and her co-conspirators are alleged to have cashed more than 500 tax refund checks that fraudulently claimed more than $1 million in tax refunds.

Alexander was personally responsible for cashing more than 300 checks totaling $606,008.30, said prosecutor Michael Boteler, a trial attorney from the Department of Justice Tax Division in Washington. In addition to the prison time, Land also ordered Alexander to pay restitution to the IRS in that amount.

Alexander’s SunTrust co-worker Vicky Wheeler, 55, was sentenced by Land to 18 months in prison in May. Wheeler cashed approximately 361 fraudulent tax refund checks that claimed $780,760.17 in tax refunds.

Wheeler’s prison sentence is less than half of Alexander’s time. During Thursday’s hearing, Boteler told the court that Wheeler testified in front of the grand jury against Alexander.

Alexander, a Phenix City resident, was part of a vast criminal conspiracy centered in the Chattahoochee Valley. At least a dozen people have been previously sentenced in connection with the scheme.

▪ Newnan, Ga., resident Keisha Lanier, the ringleader of the plan, was sentenced in September 2015 by U.S. District Court Judge Kristi K. DuBose of the Southern District of Alabama to serve 15 years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $5.811 million.

▪ In May 2015, Tamika Floyd of Phenix City was sentenced in the Southern District of Alabama to more than seven years in prison.

▪ In June 2015, Tamaica Hoskins of Phenix City was sentenced in the Southern District of Alabama to more than 12 years in prison.

▪ In August 2015, eight people connected in the conspiracy were sentenced in the Southern District of Alabama:

▪ Tracy Mitchell of Phenix City was sentenced to serve 159 months in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a forfeiture judgment in the amount of $329,242, which was seized in cash from her residence.

▪ Talarius Paige of Phenix City was sentenced to serve five years in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $762,512 in restitution to the IRS.

▪ Mequetta Snell-Quick of Columbus was sentenced to serve two years and one day in prison, two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $199,471 in restitution to the IRS.

▪ Latasha Mitchell of Phenix City was sentenced to serve three years in prison, two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $513,821 in restitution to the IRS.

▪ Dameisha Mitchell of Phenix City was sentenced to serve more than five years in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $440,176 in restitution to the IRS.

▪ Sharonda Johnson of Phenix City was sentenced to serve two years in prison, two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $440,176 in restitution to the IRS.

▪ Patrice Taylor of Columbus was sentenced to serve one year and one day in prison, two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $28,783 in restitution to the IRS.

▪ Cynthia Johnson of Phenix City was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay $5,047 in restitution to the IRS.

▪  In January, Sawan “Sunny” Shah was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison on one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Shah and his convenience store businesses were cashing fake income tax checks for a fee.

This story was originally published December 8, 2016 at 5:32 PM with the headline "Former SunTrust teller latest sentenced in $24 million tax refund scam."