Earlier this year officials at the nearby University of California, Irvine announced that about 1,100 student identities were stolen by Texas-based United Healthcare. Now several individuals have been indicted for filing phony tax returns using these students identities (and others).
The indictments were handed down by a federal grand jury in Sherman, Texas. Those indicted, Christopher Chiota of Dallas, Kennedy Mpezini of McKinney, Gilbert Gotoro of Irving, Tendeka Daniel Parirenyatwa of Richardson, Michael Thomas Jr., of Irving, and Kudzai Mangoma all face charges of fraud and identity theft. The indicted allegedly filed returns for 163 UCI students after starting a phony tax preparation business and setting up relationships with several banks.
The problem for the individuals who filed returns for the UCI students was that sooner or later some of the students would file their own returns. Once that happened the scheme was certain to be investigated. UCI police along with criminal investigators from the IRS, Department of Justice and Texas law authorities are still investigating and it’s likely that further charges are forthcoming.