Palmdale Man indicted in tax fraud, identity theft scheme

Los Angeles – A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment Wednesday charging a Palmdale man with making false claims against the government, theft of government property, mail fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.

Jerry Anthony Gregoire, Jr., 46, who was previously indicted on April 24, 2013, is charged with having used the personal identifying information of others to prepare false individual income tax returns that were filed with the Internal Revenue Service.

According to the first superseding indictment, Gregoire allegedly filed fraudulent 2009 and 2010 federal income tax returns in the names of other individuals using the victim taxpayers’ true names and Social Security numbers without their knowledge or consent.

The returns allegedly contained false information regarding the victim taxpayers’ residence addresses, incomes, expenses, and deductions, and claimed that the victim taxpayers were entitled to the tax refunds.

The returns allegedly directed the IRS to deposit the refunds to bank accounts that Gregoire controlled.  The false returns were either mailed or electronically transmitted to the IRS.

Gregoire is expected to be arraigned on the new charges sometime before his trial.  Currently his trial is scheduled to begin on June 11, 2013 before United States District Judge Manuel L. Real.

The investigation and prosecution of Gregoire was conducted by IRS Criminal Investigation and the Treasury Department’s Office of Inspector General for Tax Administration, in conjunction with the Tax Division of the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.

An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in court.

(Information via press release from the Internal Revenue Service – Los Angeles Field Office.)

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