Second man sentenced for ID theft, tax fraud in Sunrise

April 15--The second of two men has been sentenced for his role in an identity theft and tax refund scheme targeting the retirement accounts of teachers and doctors, among others, according to U.S Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer.

Jeffrey Alexander Martin, 27, formerly of Sunrise, pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. He was sentenced to more than eight years in prison followed by three years of probation, and was ordered to pay $197,088 in restitution, court records showed.

The stiff sentence was influenced by another arrest, since Martin's guilty plea, where he was found with gift cards that he had converted into credit and debit cards by encoding the credit card numbers and bank account information of identity theft victims, prosecutors said.

Tobin Lamar Lyon, 27, of Charlotte, N.C., gave Martin the personal information of more than 500 people to claim fraudulent tax refunds totaling $304,611 in 2011 and 2012. Martin received about $5,776 in refunds, evidence showed.

Lyon had worked for the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association College Retirement Equities Fund. He had access to the names, addresses, Social Security numbers and birthdates of TIAA-CREF clients, prosecutors said.

Lyon was sentenced Jan. 6 to six years in prison, followed by three years of probation and was ordered to pay $118,602 in restitution, court records showed.

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