US woman used identities of dead people to get tax refunds, payouts
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Katrina Pierce acquired more than 36 death certificates for murder victims in Illinois by pretending to be related to them
PHOTO: REUTERS
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CHICAGO - A Chicago woman was sentenced to just over five years in prison after fraudulently obtaining the identities of dozens of dead people, from infants to adults, and using the information to steal more than US$45,000 (S$60,000) of government funds, according to prosecutors and court records.
The woman, Katrina Pierce, acquired more than 36 death certificates for murder victims in Illinois – ranging from two to 22 years old – from 2019 to 2021 by pretending to be related to them, according to court records. She then used personal details, such as dates of birth and Social Security numbers, gleaned from the documents to file for tax refunds and pandemic stimulus payments.
Sometimes she used her name, once claiming on a federal income tax return that a seven-year-old boy who died in 2015 of a gunshot wound was her son. Other times, Pierce, 51, relied on aliases to pose as relatives of dead people to claim their tax refunds, according to court documents.
Mr Brian Havey, an assistant US attorney in the Northern District of Illinois, said in a sentencing memorandum last month that Pierce’s identity theft scheme was “not only illegal but morally repugnant.”
Prosecutors charged her with multiple counts of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. She pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, according to court documents.
At Pierce’s sentencing last Friday, US District Court Judge Virginia M. Kendall took note of Pierce’s history of committing fraud, The Chicago Tribune reported.
“There have been so many opportunities for you to turn away from a life of crime, and you’ve been unable to do so,” Ms Kendall said.
Pierce accumulated 11 convictions for theft and fraud across several states between 1996 and 2012, according to court documents.
Her lawyer, Ms Seema Ahmad, emphasised that Pierce had “a painful childhood of abuse and neglect growing up in Chicago’s projects” and said that her case involved “tragedy at every turn.” Still, she added that Pierce’s conduct was “deeply disturbing.”
Pierce did not focus only on murder victims in Chicago. During a search of her home just before her arrest, IRS agents seized nearly three dozen death certificates from California, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and North Carolina, according to court documents.
Ms Ahmad said that Pierce is in jail, awaiting a federal prison designation. She will also have to pay about US$30,000 in restitution, Ms Ahmad said. NYTIMES
