DALLAS — Arnoldo Perez Mirabal, 42, has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle to 24 months in federal prison, following his guilty plea in September 2016 to a superseding information charging wire fraud related to an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) impersonation fraud scheme, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.
At Thursday’s sentencing hearing, Judge Boyle also ordered Mirabal to pay more than $97,000 in restitution to the 182 victims of his scheme. Mirabal has been in custody since his arrest in Miami in May 2016 on charges outlined in a federal complaint filed in Dallas.
According to documents filed in the case, from approximately November 2015 until April 2016, Mirabal or other individuals would make unsolicited phone calls to unsuspecting taxpayers claiming to be IRS agents or employees, telling the taxpayer they owed the IRS an outstanding debt that must be paid immediately. This IRS impersonator would typically threaten the taxpayer with arrest or a lawsuit if the funds were not immediately paid.
Mirabal admitted that the impersonator would direct the taxpayers to settle this purported IRS debt by wiring funds to Mirabal via MoneyGram or Walmart-2-Walmart services at a location in the Northern District of Texas or elsewhere.
Mirabal admitted that as part of the scheme, on approximately November 5, 2015, an individual posing as “Jake Davis,” representing the IRS, called victim W.H. and informed him that he owed back taxes, and as a result, a warrant had been issued for his arrest. “Jake Davis” informed W.H, that he must immediately pay $1,000 to satisfy the warrant. “Jake Davis,” however, was not affiliated with the IRS and had no authority to seek these funds. When W.H. stated he could only pay $600 toward the total amount, “Jake Davis” instructed him to wire those funds to Arnoldo Perez Mirabal in Texas. W.H. then threatened with “liens and levies” and informed W.H. that he would need to make arrangements to pay the remaining funds. “Jake Davis” also advised W.H. that he should not hang up the phone until the funds were wired, as the IRS would consider that a sign of non-compliance with their order. W.H. then transferred $600 via Moneygram from a Walmart store in Bloomington, Indiana in response to this phone call. Mirabal accepted these funds at a Walmart store in Richardson, Texas,
The case was investigated by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Dana was in charge of the prosecution.
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