Investigative news reports are claiming that Florida is the new hotbed for tax identity fraud in the United States, concentrated mostly in Tampa and Miami. According to the report, Miami has 46 times the per-capita rate of false tax refund claims than the rest of the country, and 70 times…
Ocala, Florida – A 38-year-old veteran employee of the Marion County Public School system was arrested and charged with organized fraud Wednesday. She was taken to the Marion County Jail and released about 24 hours later on a bond of $2,000. The woman is on paid administrative leave while an…
A Canadian judge declared a mistrial Wednesday morning in the first-degree murder trial of a man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend due to comments posted by one of the juror’s on a Facebook site. The man’s family apparently visited some Facebook pages after the 12-person jury was selected and cross-referenced…
A volunteer firefighter with the Columbia County Fire Department was arrested on March 7 for allegedly using an agency fuel credit card to pay for more than $7,500 worth of gas for his personal vehicle and his friends’ vehicles. The 19-year-old Lake City, Florida man was charged with grand theft…
A Collier County judge sentenced a 52-year-old woman and wife of a Collier County sheriff’s deputy to eight years in prison Friday for embezzling more than $250,000 from a former employer. The woman was the office manager for a Naples company where she apparently wrote 211 fraudulent checks from the…
Authorities in Palm Beach County filed charges against 22 individuals Wednesday, alleging they stole nearly $1 million. “Operation Leap Fraud,” apparently one of the biggest public assistance fraud roundups ever in Palm Beach County netted suspects from across Palm Beach County Jupiter to Delray Beach, and from Pahokee to West…
A Seminole County contracting firm owner is accused of racketeering and insurance fraud after State Farm Insurance claims the company billed for work that was never done and charged for products that were never used in order to fix homes damaged by sinkholes from Orlando to Tampa Bay. Although the…
A 39-year-old Royal Palm Beach, Florida man has been charged with one count of filing a false personal income tax return for 2008 for himself and seven counts of filing false tax returns for his clients. He is also charged with fraudulently claiming the First-Time Home Buyer Credit and other…
The Citrus County Sherriff’s Office arrested a 25-year-old Lecanto, Florida woman and a 29-year-old Beverly Hills, FL man for scheming to defraud, criminal conspiracy and giving worthless checks. A deputy arrived at a Publix Supermarket in Inverness, FL after receiving a call from the store manager regarding a woman trying…
Hernando County Detectives arrested a 42-year-old Sumter County, Florida woman Tuesday for various theft-related charges which fueled an alleged gambling book of more than $14 million at a Tampa casino over two years. She has been accused of draining six of her in-law’s accounts taking at least $513,535, leaving the…