Syracuse Woman Sentenced To 78 Months In Prison For Irs And Social Security Fraud

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Patique Donerlson, 34, of Syracuse, New York, was sentenced today to 78 months in prison to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, as a result of her conviction for three counts of aggravated identity theft and three counts of misuse of a social security number, announced United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian. Donerlson was also ordered to pay $12,239 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS").

Donerlson’s sentence stemmed from her scheme to obtain federal income tax refunds by preparing and electronically filing fraudulent tax returns using other people’s personal information (names, dates of birth, and social security numbers). In the commission of these crimes, the defendant obtained the personal identification information in various ways, including some from persons whose taxes she had prepared in the past, without obtaining their permission and without their knowledge for the current filings. In each instance, the defendant fraudulently claimed these individuals had self-employment income and were eligible for an earned income tax credit from the IRS in the form of a refund, which was false. She then directed the IRS to issue the fraudulent tax refunds for these individuals on a prepaid debit card in the taxpayer’s name, and requested they be mailed to an address belonging or accessible to Donerlson.

This case was investigated by the Social Security Administration and Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Carl G. Eurenius