Maryland Woman Pleads Guilty to Theft of Government Money and Aggravated Identity Theft

Greenbelt, Maryland – Stephanie Twyman, age 47, of Clinton, Maryland, pleaded guilty on July 3, 2019, to theft of government money and aggravated identity theft, in connection with a tax fraud scheme.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

According to court documents, between 2011 and 2013, Stephanie Twyman was part of a conspiracy to fraudulently obtain tax refund checks by filing false tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) using the names and Social Security numbers of unemployed individuals. Once the refund checks in these individuals’ names were obtained, Twyman sent runners to cash the checks at a check cashing business in Clinton, Maryland, where co-conspirators worked as tellers. The runners brought the proceeds back to Twyman, who then paid the tellers for cashing the fraudulently obtained checks. The total tax loss resulting from Twyman’s fraudulent conduct is approximately $566,261.

Twyman faces a maximum sentence of ten years in prison on the theft count and a mandatory two years in prison, consecutive to any other sentence, for the aggravated identity theft count.  U.S. District Judge Paul W. Grimm has scheduled sentencing for October 4, 2019.

U.S. Attorney Hur and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman thanked agents of the Department of Treasury, Office of Inspector General, and IRS-Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Bernstein and Trial Attorney William Guappone, who are prosecuting the case.

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