As Seen in Journal
LAS CRUCES(AP) — A Silver City man is accused of stealing other people’s identities and filing for more than $100,000 in false tax refunds.
A federal grand jury in Las Cruces last week indicted Douglas Kuester on 41 counts of identity theft and tax fraud. The indictment was unsealed Tuesday, following his arrest.
The Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service say Kuester used stolen identities to file false tax returns between 2007 and 2010. He had the refunds sent to him or bank accounts that he controlled.
Investigators say Kuester used a device known as an “anonymizer” to conceal where he was transmitting the electronic returns from.