Allentown man gets 4.5 year prison term for tax refund fraud
An Allentown man convicted for his role in an identity theft and tax fraud scheme that netted millions of dollars in fraudulent tax refunds was sentenced Tuesday to 4½ years in federal prison.
U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III also ordered Abel Gonzalez, 46, to serve three years of supervised release when he gets out of prison and repay the government $877,787, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia, which prosecuted the case.
Prosecutors had asked Bartle to impose a prison term of more than nine years, as recommended by federal sentencing guidelines. Gonzalez’s attorney Jack McMahon said Bartle noted Gonzalez’s strong support from family and friends and remarked that he had lived an exemplary life until his involvement in the fraud and theft conspiracy before imposing the sentence.
A jury found Gonzalez guilty of conspiracy to defraud the government, seven counts of theft of government funds and seven counts of aggravated identity theft following a four-day trial in April.
Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/police/mc-nws-allentown-tax-refund-fraud-sentence-20171003-story.html
