Tampa man sentenced to 5 years for COVID identity theft scheme

A 29-year-old Tampa man is heading to federal prison for a conspiracy to steal personal information from medical patients in order to make unemployment claims in several states during COVID-19.

U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber sentenced Mehdi Tazi earlier this week to five years in prison and ordered that he pay $1.07 million in restitution.

Tazi pleaded guilty in February to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft and one count of aggravated identity theft.