A Georgia woman is facing 27 years behind bars for using the identities of nursing home residents to obtain fraudulent income tax refunds, the U.S. District Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia announced Thursday.
Yolando Blount, also known as Yolanda King, had pleaded guilty to the charges in September. The 32-year-old admitted stealing the identities of nursing home residents, then filing fraudulent income tax returns to reap more than $460,000 in refunds, according to the district attorney’s office.
The scheme began in 2010, and was carried out with the help of Raquel Hogan, an employee at Macon Management Health and Rehabilitation Center, the D.A.’s office told McKnight’s. Hogan also has pleaded guilty for her role and is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 19 in Macon.
In addition to the prison sentence, District Court Judge Marc T. Treadwell ordered Blount to pay more than $493,000 in restitution, according to the D.A.’s office.
Blount’s identity theft was driven by the “worst kind of greed” and deserves her “harsh sentence,” said U.S. Attorney Michael Moore.
The investigation involved the IRS, U.S. Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Treasury Department Office of the Inspector General and the Macon Police Department, according to the U.S. district attorney’s office.
