Woman Pleads Guilty to Mail Fraud in Alexandria Area

A woman recently pled guilty to mail fraud and presenting false, fictitious or fraudulent claims, according to the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation within the Washington, D.C. Field Office.

From about January 2007 to April 2011, Johnson devised and executed a scheme to defraud family members and former associates in the Eastern District of Virginia and elsewhere. The IRS-CI and the U.S. Postal Service Inspection Service investigated the case.

According to the investigation, Johnson also used the mail from about May 2010 to June 2010 in "a scheme to fraudulently apply for and receive unemployment benefits in other people's names." The defendant used victims' social security numbers without their knowledge or consent.

The investigation also showed that Johnson filed false tax returns in her own name and she filed false tax returns in other people's names without their consent from about January 2007 to April 2011.

"She deposited the proceeds of these fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits and tax refunds into bank accounts that she opened in other people's names, but that she controlled," explained PIO Joy Cuffee in an email.

Cuffee explained that Johnson was sentenced in the Easter District of Virginia and the case was brought in this jurisdiction due to acts of mail fraud that occurred in the area. Individuals who were victimized by Johnson's crimes reside in Alexandria and other areas in the D.C. metropolitan.

According to court documents, Johnson entered into an agreement and pled guilty because "the defendant is in fact guilty of the charged offenses." Johnson was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Oct. 3.

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