Three former nursing home aides are facing prison time for stealing residents’ identities and conning the government, state and federal authorities announced Thursday.
The three women obtained residents’ personal identification information from the Georgia nursing home where they worked as certified nursing assistants, and they used the information to file fraudulent tax returns, according to court papers and evidence introduced at trial.
The women used refunds from the fraudulent returns to make car and mortgage payments, buy products online, and throw a “red carpet party,” the Department of Justice stated in a news release. They raised more than $600,000 by filing nearly 200 false returns.
The DOJ did not name the facility where the women worked.
One of the defendants, Kimberly Banks, was convicted after a one-week trial in January. She received a 192-month prison sentence on Thursday, announced Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Michael J. Moore for the Middle District of Georgia.
The other two defendants, Donalene Mosely and Arneshia Austin, pleaded guilty to conspiracy prior to trial, according to the prosecutors. They received 37-month and 21-month prison sentences, respectively. The three former CNAs also have been ordered to pay about $275,000 in restitution.
This is the second nursing home identification theft case to come out of Georgia recently. In January, Yolando Blount received a 27-year prison sentence for her role in a similar scheme.
