Federal jury convicts Phenix City man in tax-fraud scheme that sought $22 million

A federal jury in Montgomery, Ala., has convicted the Phenix City man accused of stealing personal prison inmate information in a scheme to steal $22 million in fraudulent tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service.

The jury found William Anthony “Boo Boo” Gosha III guilty of one count of conspiracy, three counts of wire fraud, 22 counts of mail fraud, and 25 counts of aggravated identity theft.

Investigators said Gosha ran a “large-scale identity theft ring” with Tracy Mitchell, Keshia Lanier and Tamika Floyd, from November 2010 to December 2013 filing more than 8,800 tax returns seeking more than $22 million in refunds. The IRS paid them around $9 million.

Gosha in 2010 stole the identifications of Alabama Department of Corrections inmates and gave the data to Lanier to use for filing fraudulent tax refunds. They agreed to split the loot.

When Lanier needed more stolen IDs in 2012, she recruited Floyd, who worked at both the Alabama Department of Public Health and the Department of Human Resources in Opelika. Floyd’s work gave her access to individuals’ personal identifying information, including teenagers’.

Lanier asked Floyd for identities of 16- and 17-year-olds. Floyd agreed, providing thousands of names. Gosha then recruited Mitchell and her family to help file the fraudulent returns.

Mitchell worked at Fort Benning, where she had access to the identifying information of soldiers deployed to Afghanistan. She used it to file more fraudulent returns.

To file the returns electronically, Gosha, Lanier and their cohorts got Electronic Filing Identification Numbers (EFIN) from the IRS, using the names of fake tax-preparation businesses. The conspirators used the numbers to file fraudulent returns, and to get tax-refund bank products such as blank-check stock. They at first printed out refund checks using the check stock.

When financial institutions stopped letting them print checks, they recruited U.S. postal workers to provide addresses from mail routes, to which fraudulent IRS refunds could be mailed. The postal workers were paid to collect the checks and give them to the conspirators.

Gosha also had refunds converted to prepaid debit cards and sent to addresses he controlled.

From January 2010 to December 2013, Gosha also sold IDs stolen from the Alabama Department of Corrections to Pamela Smith and to others. They used the IDs to file returns seeking $4.8 million in fraudulent refunds. The IRS paid them $1.85 million.

Gosha’s co-conspirators already have been convicted.

Chief U.S. District Court Judge Watkins has not set a date for Gosha’s sentencing. He faces up to 10 years in prison for conspiracy to file false claims, up to 20 years for each count of wire and mail fraud, and a minimum two years in prison for aggravated identity theft.

Federal authorities took Gosha into custody after his conviction.

This story was originally published November 10, 2017 at 10:46 AM with the headline "Federal jury convicts Phenix City man in tax-fraud scheme that sought $22 million."