Alabama woman who was part of an identity theft scheme has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. Scottie Alice Johnson of Montgomery County, Ala., was accused of being part of a family ring that used stolen IDs to obtain more than $1.7 million in tax refunds.Johnson was accused of conspiring with Barbara Murry, Veronica Temple and Yolanda Moses to accept refunds received from the returns prepared and filed by B&B Tax Service, which was created by Moses. The tax preparation company operated in the same building as B&B Weaving, owned by Barbara Murry who is the mother of Moses and Temple.
The three women have each been sentenced to 57 months in prison. Johnson faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, three years of supervised release, restitution and a maximum fine of $250,000. The group recruited individuals such as Johnson to use their bank accounts for depositing the refunds.
According to the government, Murry, Temple and Moses filed more than 900 false returns between January 2006 and April 2012. Out of the more than $1.7 million in refunds they received, $140,505.22 went into Johnson’s bank account. Another $22,650 went into her son’s bank account.
