Man Lands In Prison After Depositing $980K Check From The IRS

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Man Deposits $980,000 Check From The IRS And Goes To Prison

A man who makes around $18,000 in annual income received a nearly $1 million check from the federal government a few years back, and now, he has been sentenced to three years in prison.

29-year-old Ramon C. Blanchett is a part-time DJ and community college student in Tampa, Florida.  According to the Tampa Bay Times, he pleaded guilty to theft of government funds last fall. Blanchett filed a 2016 tax form that claimed around $18,000 in wage income, a state and local income tax deduction of $47,000 and an income tax withholding credit of $1 million, according to a court document.

The government ended up sending him a $980,000 check in 2017, later switching the money from a SunTrust Bank to a credit union in Tampa, Florida, which is what notified the IRS. At the time, Blanchett said it represented an inheritance from his father’s estate.

The next year, he filed a 2017 tax form claiming nearly $17,000 in wage income and a $26,000 refund.

After IRS agents advised him in September of 2018 that he was subject to a criminal investigation for his 2016 tax return, they served him a letter about the issue that December, and he filed another tax return claiming $980,000 in wage income while requesting a nearly $466,000 refund, according to the government.

U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr. sentenced the 29-year-old to 34 months in prison. The judge allowed Blanchett to remain free until he reports to the Bureau of Prisons at a yet-to-be scheduled date, also ordering him to pay $59,768 in restitution to the IRS and to pay the correct income tax for the years 2016, 2017 and 2018.