Philadelphia Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced that Luis Veras-Velasquez formerly of Philadelphia, PA, pleaded guilty to the charge of aggravated identity theft before United States District Court Judge Gerald J. Pappert related to a scheme to steal income tax refunds.
On April 23, 2015, a federal grand jury returned an Indictment against the defendant, alleging that he engaged in a scheme to obtain tax refunds using stolen identities. According to the Indictment, Veras-Velasquez possessed numerous documents containing the names, dates of birth, and social security numbers of victim taxpayers. Internal Revenue Service records show that more than 20 of those identities were used to seek tax refunds without the knowledge or authorization of the taxpayer named on the return. Before he could answer to these charges in federal court, the defendant fled to Dominican Republic, where he remained for five years. Then in September 2020, Veras-Velasquez bo