U.S. Department of Justice R. Alexander Acosta United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida
	99 N.E. 4th Street Miami, FL 33132 (305) 961-9001

FIVE PLEAD GUILTY TO TAX FRAUD
COUNTERFEIT CHECK SCHEME CHARGES

R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Brian J. Wimpling, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, William T. Sims, Special Agent in Charge, United States Secret Service, and Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw announced that the five defendants charged in the case of United States v. Cynthia Reynolds, Case No. 05-80034-CR-Hurley, pled guilty yesterday before United States District Judge Daniel T. K. Hurley in West Palm Beach to fraud and counterfeit check schemes charges.

Defendants Cynthia Reynolds, Tangela Benjamin, and Kontiki Curry, each pled guilty to Count 1 of the Indictment, charging them with conspiring to make or present fraudulent claims against the United States, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 286. The Indictment alleged that for calendar tax years 1999 through 2001, these defendants operated a scheme based in Belle Glade, Florida, where they and others recruited individuals to file false tax returns claiming large tax refunds. Reynolds would obtain the Social Security numbers and other identifying information from the individuals and would then prepare fraudulent Forms W-2 to support the false income information on the returns, which resulted in refunds ranging from $3,000 to $5,000. The defendants would profit by encouraging taxpayers to apply for refund anticipation loans, which would allow the taxpayer to receive a cash advance on the false claim of refund. The defendants would then take a portion of the loan proceeds. During the course of the conspiracy, defendants Reynolds, Benjamin, and Curry caused approximately fifty (50) fraudulent income tax returns to be submitted to the IRS with false tax refund claims of approximately $200,000

Cynthia Reynolds, Tangela Benjamin, Kontiki Curry, Judy Guillotte, and Treva Shellman also pled guilty to the individual counts of the Indictment charging each of them with specific instances of filing fraudulent income tax returns with false claims for refunds, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 287.

Defendants Reynolds, Benjamin, Curry, and Guillotte additionally pled guilty to Count 13, which charged them with conspiring to create counterfeit checks and recruiting others to negotiate them at area banks, businesses, and check cashing stores, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371. The checks were produced using computer software and made to appear to be genuine payroll checks of legitimate companies. This scheme involved the cashing of approximately $120,000 in worthless counterfeit checks.

Finally, Reynolds pled guilty to Count 18, which charged her with possessing a counterfeit cashier’s check in the amount of $4,200 payable to a custom auto wheel company; and Guillotte pled guilty to Count 14, which charged her with possessing a counterfeit check in the amount of $301.66. Both of these counts charged violations of title 18, United States Code, Sections 513(a) and 2.

No sentencing date was set by Judge Hurley. However, on the tax fraud conspiracy count, the defendants face a maximum statutory term of ten (10) years in prison, and those defendants convicted of substantive fraudulent claims counts face a maximum statutory term of five (5) years in prison per count. The defendants convicted of the counterfeit conspiracy count face a maximum statutory term of five (5) years in prison; and the two defendants convicted of a substantive counterfeiting count face ten (10) years on each of those counts.

Defendant Cynthia Reynolds was ordered by Judge Hurley to be remanded to the custody of the U. S. Marshal pending sentencing. Defendants Curry and Guillotte remain in Marshals’ custody, while Benjamin and Shellman were allowed to remain out on bond pending sentencing.

Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the United States Secret Service and the Internal Revenue Service. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lauren Jorgensen in the West Palm Beach office.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.

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