May 09--TAMPA -- She hosted "drop parties" in her house and used cash she stole from taxpayers to buy a new car, Gucci luggage and a pink handgun.
Yet Arswaya Ralph, 33, reported no income to the IRS.
All told, she filed fake tax returns to obtain more than $450,000 in bogus refunds.
The Riverview woman has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges of making a false claim and identity theft, according to court documents filed in U.S. District Court on Tuesday.
She is the latest to face prosecution in an explosion in tax refund fraud that has rocked law enforcement in the Tampa area and resulted in billions of dollars pouring from federal coffers into the pockets of thieves nationwide.
The fraud, celebrated in online rap videos and the subject of an independent movie, is known in street parlance as "drops" or "TurboTax," after the popular online filing system.
Authorities say the thieves sometimes have "drop parties" where they gather to file fraudulent tax returns together.
Others prosecuted have included business owners who laundered fraudulent tax refund checks for pennies on the dollar, a letter carrier who took bribes to help fraudsters use mailboxes for vacant apartments and a police officer who used a law enforcement database to help crooks set up bogus bank accounts.
Deputies and police also have charged business employees with stealing customer information and selling it to tax fraud thieves, and they have found drug dealers carrying ledgers, checks and preloaded debit cards.
Authorities searched Ralph's home in Riverview on June 2 and found about $27,000 in cash in her bedroom closet and more than $4,000 inside a Betsy Johnson designer handbag, according to her plea agreement.
They also found 42 debit cards, two laptop computers and about a dozen handwritten ledgers containing names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and other personal identification information.
Investigators also seized designer clothing, shoes, luggage and handbags, as well as electronics and a pink handgun.
Ralph told detectives she had been filing fraudulent tax returns in other people's names since August or September 2010.
Among her purchases with the proceeds was a 2010 Buick Lacrosse.
Investigators searching her computer found at least 65 fraudulent tax returns for the 2010 tax year. They were all filed electronically and accepted by the IRS.
Copyright 2012 - Tampa Tribune, Fla.
