A St. Paul woman will spend more than a year in prison for using stolen identities to file state and federal tax claims.
Ebony Shante Yarbrough, 28, was sentenced in federal court Thursday to two years in prison for aggravated identity theft, according to information provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota.
Yarbrough pleaded guilty to the charge this summer.
She admitted in court to convincing family and friends to allow her to file their income tax returns on their behalf as she would charge less that an outside tax service.
Yarbrough claimed fraudulent incomes and dependents on the returns, which ended up amounting to about $500,000 in false state and federal claims, the attorney’s office reported. Yarbrough stole personal information from minors to verify dependency claims.
She operated the scheme between 2013 and 2015.
Yarbrough was also ordered to pay nearly $300,000 in restitution.