Date: 04-23-2015

Case Style: United States of America v. Patrick Exilhome

Case Number: 1:14-cr-20724-KMW

Judge: KMW

Court: United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida (Dade County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: Brooke C. Watson

Defendant's Attorney: Ayana N. Harris - FPD

Description: A Miami-Dade County resident pled guilty for his participation in an identity theft tax fraud scheme.

Wifredo A. Ferrer, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Kelly R. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), and Steve Steinberg, Chief, Aventura Police Department, made the announcement.

Patrick Exilhome, 23, of Miami-Dade County, pled guilty to one count possession of fifteen or more unauthorized access devices and one count of aggravated identity theft.

According to court documents, law enforcement responded to a hotel and observed four individuals, including Exilhome, smoking marijuana. The individuals were asked to leave the hotel. Before departing, a female from the group asked to retrieve her purse from a hotel room. Officers accompanied the female to the hotel room and discovered, in plain view, a computer, pieces of paper containing names, dates of birth and social security numbers or personal identification information (“PII”), and debit cards in other peoples’ names.

Officers obtained a search warrant for the hotel room and seized the computer, approximately 131 forms of PII and 16 credit/debit cards in other peoples’ names. A forensic analysis of the computer revealed thirty “recently used” websites for tax filings and access to debit/credit cards. PII belonging to individuals, other than the defendant, had been saved to the websites. Latent print analysis revealed that Exilhome’s prints were on the computer and pieces of paper that contained PII.

Exilhome is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen M. Williams on July 16, 2015 at 10:30 a.m. At sentencing, Exilhome faces a maximum of ten years in prison for the access devices charge, and a mandatory term of two years in prison, consecutive to any other term in prison, for the aggravated identity theft charge.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of IRS-CI and the Aventura Police Department. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brooke C. Watson.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.

Outcome: See above

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

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