ALEXANDRIA, La. (AP) - A 40-year-old Morgan City woman has been sentenced to 25 months in prison for her role in a scheme to use stolen identities to file false tax returns and pocket refunds.
U.S. Attorney Stephanie Finley said in a news release Laphrida Watts was sentenced Monday U.S. District Judge Dee Drell on one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of aggravated identity theft.
She was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay over $45,000 restitution. According to the Jan. 13 guilty plea, from February 2013 to August of 2013, Watts and co-defendant, 36-year-old Louis Carbins Jr., of Patterson, knew and allowed individuals from overseas to use stolen identities to file tax returns.
Carbins was sentenced on Aug. 29 to 60 months in prison.
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