Raymundo Hernandez, 36, Sentenced to 27 Months Jail Plus Payback of $2.6 Million for his role in IRS Tax Refund Fraud

NEWARK, NJ - Raymundo Hernandez, 36, of Bronx, NY, was sentenced to 27 months in prison today for pleading guilty to being the ringleader of a conspiracy that stole $2.6 million in United States income tax refund checks US Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Hernandez had previously pleaded guilty to the charge; he was sentenced by US District Judge Madeline C. Arleo in Newark federal court. 

Stolen Identity Refund Fraud 
Stolen Identity Refund Fraud (SIRF) results in more than $2 billion in losses annually for the US and is a common type of fraud committed against the government. The schemes usually involve the following:

• Scam-artists gather information regarding personal identification including Social Security numbers and dates of birth
• Victims often reside in Puerto Rico 
• Scammers complete IRS-1040 tax return forms using the stolen information and then they falsify wages earned and taxes withheld to ensure the tax return will generate a refund
• The refund checks are then mailed to the scammer's location
• In some cases, mail carriers have been bribed to remove the refund checks from their mail routes
• Tax refund is then deposited into the scammer's bank

 Facts Gathered from Case Documents and Court Statements

• From November 2010 through October 2012, Hernandez recruited and oversaw a team of conspirators who filed false income tax returns with the IRS in order to obtain refunds
• The conspirators were located in Newark and the Bronx
• Hernandez paid the group with the treasury checks he received fraudulently
• Luis Pena, 32, of Bronx, was one of Hernandez' conspirators. Pena obtained at least 44 treasury checks for Hernandez and pleaded guilty to  this role in March 2014
• Also pleading guilty were mail carriers Gloria Rivera 40, of the Bronx, and Lourdes Ortiz, 42, of the Bronx who accepted bribes in exchange for delivering the fraudulent refund checks to Pena
• The  $2,659,718 worth of checks were deposited into bank accounts in the name of businesses the conspirators controlled; the proceeds were withdrawn in large amounts of cash
• Three bank accounts were controlled by Hernandez who personally deposited $171,589

• Some of the money was used to purchase cars and to gamble in Atlantic City

Penalties

• Hernandez was sentenced to 27 months in prison along with three years of Supervised Release
  
• Hernandez must pay restitution of $2,659,717.82 to the US government
• Pena was sentenced to 30 months in prison on Oct. 16, 2014
• Rivera was sentenced to six months in prison on Jan. 7, 2015
• Ortiz was sentenced to three years of probation on Jan. 7, 2015

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by Carolyne Volpe Curley / Carolyne@WestEssexNOW.com
Published 5:56pm

Investigative Team
Fishman credited the following in leading to today’s sentencing:

• Special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jonathan D. Larsen
  
• Postal inspectors of the US Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Inspector in Charge Maria L. Kelokates
  
• Special agents of the US Secret Service, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Carl Agnelli
  
• Special agents of the US Postal Service-Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Rafael A. Medina
  

Trial Representation
The US Government is represented by:

• Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara F. Merin of the U.S. Attorney’s Office General Crimes Unit in Newark
  

The Defense counsel is made up of: 

• Roy Greenman Esq., Union, New Jersey

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