I-Team 10:  Fraud victim now charged in tax scheme 

Posted at: 02/03/2012 5:22 PM | Updated at: 02/03/2012 6:49 PM
By: Brett Davidsen | WHEC.com

A local fraud arrest last week is getting a second look tonight from I-Team 10. That's because we discovered the Rochester woman now charged in a multi-million dollar tax scheme stood in front of our camera just a couple of months ago.

When we first met Michelle Torres in early December, she had just started her own hair business in the city of Rochester but had suffered a financial setback.

"I haven't been able to (get) products, stock up, to do a grand opening like I wanted to," Torres told us then.

She had contacted I-Team 10 after being stiffed for $2400 by a landlord who rented her a house in Gates, took her deposit and first month's rent, then never gave her the keys to move in.

Torres told us the lost cash would make it a sad Christmas for her four children.

"Money that I had put up for Christmas, I had to pay rent again. It's a lot, especially around this time."

What she didn't tell us, and what we didn't know at the time, is that Torres was under federal investigation, named last week in a $45-million nationwide tax fraud scheme.
  
"She's charged with conspiracy to file false claims with the United States Government," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Resnick.

Authorities say Torres was working with a group out of New York City who used stolen identities to create tax returns that generated refunds.
  
"Individuals from, mainly Puerto Rico, their identity was being stolen...their names and social security numbers, and those names and numbers were put on the tax returns," said Resnick.

The FBI says about $45-million in fraudulent refunds were sent out across the country. Of those, nearly 600 checks were sent to various locations in Rochester totaling more than $3 million.

One of the locations was a house on Winterroth Street, the home of Torres' cousin. When we knocked a man peered through the blinds but would not open the door and speak with us today.

Torres is not accused of cashing those checks, just forwarding them.

"she would go collect those checks at the addresses that these checks were sent and then she would send those checks back to New York City," said Resnick.

Today we went back over to the hair salon where we first met Torres but the business is now closed.

When we interviewed her in December, she had some strong things to say about the man who took her money. We wonder if her alleged victims are now saying the same things.

Prosecutors say all of these fraudulent tax returns were filed between February and October of last year for the 2010 tax year.

Torres was released from custody without bail being set. We tried to contact her by cell phone but she hung up the phone.

For more Rochester, N.Y. news, go to www.whec.com

 

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