Stamford Woman Sentenced to 2 Years for Tax Fraud, ID Theft

A Stamford woman was sentenced Monday to two years in federal prison for her role in a tax fraud and identity theft scheme, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut announced.

According to the attorney's office, Damaris Peralta, 45, was sentenced Monday to 24 months in prison followed by three years probation for her role in a conspiracy that played out between October and December of 2010, according to the attorney's office.

Peralto was found guilty of her involvement in a conspiracy in which she, Hector Medina and others were accused of obtaining at least 35 U.S. Treasury income tax refund checks by filing fraudulent tax returns, with false W-2 forms attached, on behalf of citizens of Puerto Rico without their knowledge or consent.

According to the statement by the Attorney's Office, Matilde Fabian-Pichardo used her position as a bank teller in Stamford to cash the fraudulent checks presented to her by Medina and others by using the legitimate accounts of bank customers.  Medina kept the majority of the proceeds of the scheme and paid Peralta and others for their assistance.

In total, the Internal Revenue Service lost approximately $185,000 during the scheme, and fraudulently obtained state tax refund checks from New York and North Carolina totaled an additional loss of approximately $13,000.

According to the Lt. Diedrich Hohn, Sgt. Peter Dispagna and the Stamford Police Department were "deeply involved" in the operation that brought Peralta to justice.

Peralta has been detained since May 23, 2012. On October 24, 2012, she pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the IRS. In addition to her sentence, she was ordered to pay, jointly and severally with her co-defendants, restitution in the amount of $198,425.57.