Three defendants involved in a stolen identity refund fraud scheme have been sentenced in the Middle District of Alabama, according to the Department of Justice.

Chiquanta Davis received a prison term of 66 months, her husband Terrence Davis was sentenced to 18 months in jail and Laurekshia Blakely received a six-month prison sentence. All three were also sentenced to three years’ supervised release.           

In May, the three had pleaded guilty to various charges in a superseding indictment: Chiquanta Davis to conspiracy to file false claims, theft of public funds and aggravated identity theft; and Terrence Davis and Blakely each to one count of theft of public funds.

According to court documents, Ms. Davis operated a sham tax business in 2010 called It’s Tax Time out of her home. She opened a bank account in the name of It’s Tax Time and directed a total of $1,458,600 in fraudulent refunds to that bank account.

Although the IRS intercepted and stopped many of the refunds, Ms. Davis still received a substantial amount into the account, using the funds, among other things, to buy a Cadillac Escalade that she has agreed to forfeit as part of her plea agreement.   

Court records also say that in 2011, Ms. Davis assisted with the filing of 192 false returns requesting $769,223 in refunds, with those refunds then directed to various bank accounts, including accounts controlled by her husband and Laurekshia Blakely. Fraudulent refunds totaling $199,959 from 54 false tax returns were directed to Terrence Davis’s bank accounts, and $24,314 from five false tax returns were directed to Laurekshia Blakely’s accounts.