Fla. man sentenced in Valdosta for tax fraud

Published 6:33 am Thursday, August 16, 2018

VALDOSTA — A Miami man was sentenced in federal court Wednesday for taking part in a fraudulent tax refund scheme, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Tony Cherenfant, 34, was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Hugh Lawson to 60 months in federal prison and ordered to make restitution to the United States Treasury in the amount of $582,751, according to a justice department statement.

On Sept. 3, 2013, a deputy in Lowndes County pulled over a black Ford Fusion for failure to maintain lane and for a window-tint violation, plea deal documents show. 

There were three people in the car, including Cherenfant, documents show. 

A strong odor of marijuana led deputies to search the car, where they found multiple credit cards, three laptop computers, six cellphones, an iPad and notebooks with more than 1,500 names, birthdates, bank routing numbers and Social Security numbers, the plea deal claims.

As far back as 2011, Cherenfant and his co-conspirators used the personal information of other people, including names and Social Security numbers, without their permission to file fraudulent tax returns, according to court documents. 

The resulting refund checks would be used by the conspirators for their own use, documents show.

More than 1,200 fake tax returns for the years 2010, 2011 and 2012 were generated, resulting in more than $1.6 million in refund claims, according to a federal indictment. The actual loss to the U.S. Treasury was just above $580,000, the indictment states.

Cherenfant was indicted April 12, 2017, on one charge of conspiracy to steal and embezzle public money, one count of possession of unauthorized access devices (the notebooks and electronic devices holding the names and Social Security numbers) and 18 counts of aggravated identity theft, according to the indictment sheet. 

In a plea deal signed April 4, Cherenfant pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge in exchange for all other charges being dropped, court records show.

The case was investigated by the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office and the Internal Revenue Service. Assistant United States Attorney Robert D. McCullers prosecuted the case for the United States.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.