Pamela C. Marsh, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, announced that Ashley Assgill Glover, 28, of Miami, Florida, pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government property, one count of possession of unauthorized devices, and one count of aggravated identity theft.
Glover is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Mark Walker on April 18, 2014. On the first two counts, she faces maximum penalties of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. On the third count, she faces a mandatory two-year term of imprisonment that must run consecutive to the sentence imposed on the other counts, one year of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.
On March 12, 2012, the Tallahassee Police Department stopped Glover and found her in possession of personal identifying information (PII) for more than 800 victims. Debit cards loaded with tax refunds linked to fraudulent tax returns were also found. To date, the IRS has identified fraudulent tax returns using that PII, which claim approximately $369,848 in fraudulent tax refunds.
Three months after the Tallahassee Police Department incident, Glover was stopped by Coral Springs Police Department and found in possession of PII for more than 160 victims. Then five months later, Glover was stopped by the Florida Department of Agriculture, and was found in possession of yet another list containing PII for more than 600 victims.
The case was investigated by the Tallahassee Police Department, the United States Secret Service, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Florida Department of Agriculture.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Winifred L. Acosta Nesmith.
SOURCE: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida
But where did she obtain all the PII used for the tax refund fraud? And does the fact that Florida Dept. of Agriculture was involved in the investigation suggest anything?
The USAO doesn’t tell us anything about the source of the PII in their releases, but court records suggest that at least some of them may have come from South Broward Advanced Diagnostics in Hollywood, Florida. SBAD has not responded to an email inquiry from PHIprivacy.net as to whether any of the PII/PHI came from their patients’ records.