Miami-Dade County Resident Sentenced in Identity Theft Fraud Scheme

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Kelly R. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), and J. Scott Dennis, Chief, North Miami Beach Police Department, announce that Frenchy Thermidor, 25, of Miami, Florida, was sentenced today to 24 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $700.00 in restitution.

Thermidor previously pled guilty to one count of possession of 15 or more unauthorized access devices, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1029(a)(3), and one count of aggravated identity theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028A(a)(1).

According to court documents, on April 20, 2011, an officer from the North Miami Beach Police Department conducted a traffic stop on a car driven by Thermidor. During a lawful search, the officer found a receipt in the name of another individual for an attempted ATM withdrawal from a checking account. A few days later, this individual told the officer that she did not know Thermidor and had not given him permission to use any card.

Court documents also state that on July 20, 2011, officers arrested the defendant based on suspicion of identity theft. The defendant gave officers consent to search the motel room where he was staying. During the search, police found a laptop computer, three turbo tax cards, various credit cards, four metro PCS phones, $1,400.00 in cash, and a composition notebook with 32 handwritten names. Next to each of these names was a date of birth and social security number. In another part of the notebook there were several different handwritten email addresses, and next to each of these addresses was a dollar figure and the word “accepted” or “rejected.” A fraudulent tax return was filed on behalf of one of the names written in the notebook.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of IRS-CI and the North Miami Beach Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John R. Byrne.

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 http://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 http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.