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TAMPA — A federal jury convicted bail bondsman Freddie Wilson of theft of government funds, money laundering and identity theft for depositing $318,000 in fraudulent tax refunds into his bank account.
Wilson, who owned and operated Against All Odds Bail Bonds Inc. in Tampa for more than a decade, was found guilty of depositing tax refunds derived fraudulently from the identities of deceased, disabled and elderly people, says a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida.
Wilson, 40, contended he had legitimately cashed checks for customers as part of his check cashing business, court records show.
Prosecutors allege he cashed more than 40 fraudulent tax refund checks but he was indicted and found guilty of depositing six fraudulently obtained checks into an account at Hancock Bank, according to court records. Wilson used the proceeds to buy a 2011 Camaro, to pay bills and for “large dollar transactions” at Seminole Hard Rock Casino.
Sherman Otis Brown, a convicted drug dealer who has been arrested numerous times since 1997, has known Brown since they were both 14, records show. Brown told prosecutors he had accompanied Wilson to the Salvation Army and other places to buy Social Security numbers from people. Brown alleged that Wilson paid $1,000 for 10 names and social security numbers.
In addition, Brown told prosecutors he accompanied Wilson to hotels where Wilson would file as many as 100 online tax returns nightly. Brown says he also accompanied Wilson to vacant addresses in Ruskin, Riverview, Gibsonton and Sun City to pick up U.S. Treasury checks.
Brown was arrested in June 2012 on a drug trafficking charge. In February, a month before Wilson's arrest, he was sentenced to 11 years and two months in federal prison for selling cocaine, records show. At the government's request, he received a downward departure from sentencing guidelines for assisting prosecutors.
Wilson, who was booked into the Pinellas County Jail following his Thursday conviction, will be sentenced Oct. 8. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years behind bars for each of the six counts of theft of government funds, 10 years for money laundering, five years for obstruction of obstruction and two years for each of the five counts of aggravated identity theft.
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