Tax preparer gets prison time for identity theft

April 6, 2015 3:48 pm

By The Associated Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) _ A Cranston woman is going to prison for selling minors’ identities to people who wanted bigger tax refunds.

Thirty-seven-year-old Tashia Bodden was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court to three years in prison and was ordered to pay more than $1.4 million to the IRS and the state.

Bodden is co-owner, along with 40-year-old Evelyn Nunez, of NBP Multiservices. Both women pleaded guilty in December to charges stemming from the scheme.

Nunez was sentenced in March to two-and-a-half years in prison and was ordered to pay restitution.

Investigators say the women stole minors’ identifying information from tax returns prepared by their company and then sold the information to tax filers who used it to increase their refunds.

Bodden’s attorney did not immediately return a message seeking comment.