Orlando, Florida - U.S. District Judge Paul G. Bryon has sentenced Manuel Enrique Santana (36, Orlando) to four years in federal prison for theft of government funds and aggravated identity theft. As part of his sentence, the Court also entered a money judgment in the amount of $64,889.15, the proceeds of the charged criminal conduct. Santana was found guilty by a jury on January 10, 2017.
According to the evidence presented at trial, Santana deposited 47 stolen federal tax refund checks into three of his own bank accounts over a 10-day period in early 2014. The vast majority of checks were endorsed with forged signatures of the intended payees, all of whom had filed returns for the 2013 tax year and were expecting to receive their refund checks by mail. The combined value of the stolen checks was more than $64,000.
This case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, and the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Emily C. L. Chang.