Four in Columbus plead to filing more than 300 fraudulent tax returns with stolen IDs

Four Columbus residents pleaded guilty Tuesday to using stolen identities to file more than 300 fraudulent tax returns under the business name “Wise Tax,” according to prosecutors.

Authorities identified the defendants as Erica D. Wise, 33; Ciourziae Weaver, 27; Linda Weaver, 52; and April Byrd, 40. They pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the U.S. government, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, followed by three years of supervised release.

U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land set their sentencing for April 11.

The defendants in their plea agreements admitted conspiring together to file multiple fraudulent tax returns between March 2012 and September 2013, using personal information from taxpayers they didn’t know, authorities said. They used four Columbus addresses for the 316 returns to be mailed to. They used stolen identities also as the names of those who prepared the returns, and none of the named preparers knew about the scheme, prosecutors said.

“This tax return scheme enacted in Columbus is vast, with several layers of fraud concocted to not only steal people’s identities but also defraud the government,” said Charles Peeler, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, who thanked the IRS for helping uncover the scheme. The prosecutor on the case was Assistant U.S. Attorney Mel Hyde.