Three people face federal charges in Tampa for intercepting more than $2 million in U.S. Treasury checks and depositing them with counterfeit driver’s licenses made in the victims’ names. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announced the indictment on October 13. IRS Criminal Investigation and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration led the case.
The defendants are Stanley Richardson Joseph and Kallie Nicole Valerie Halliday, both of Brooklyn, New York, and Kristy Marie Bochecchio of Tampa. The indictment charges each with conspiracy, theft of government money or property, and aggravated identity theft. Each faces up to 10 years in federal prison if convicted, and the government plans to seek forfeiture of the proceeds. An indictment is a charge, not a finding of guilt.
Prosecutors say the group took Treasury checks out of the mail before the people they were written to ever saw them. They then built fake licenses matching those names, opened new accounts at financial institutions and deposited the checks. The release does not give a victim count. Anyone whose federal check or refund never arrived, or whose tax return was filed by someone else, is the person this case is about.
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The first hour after a stolen refund
The IRS lays out its victim steps in its identity theft guide for individuals. The first moves are plain: stop all contact with anyone asking for money or information, change the password on the IRS online account, and follow the instructions in any IRS letter or notice. Records matter too. The IRS tells victims to keep every letter, call and email.
Next comes the report. The Federal Trade Commission runs IdentityTheft.gov, where victims report the theft and get a recovery plan. The IRS guide points to that site as its recovery resource and also links to its own page for reporting tax fraud.
A rejected e-filed return is often the first sign. If the IRS says a return already exists under a Social Security number, the theft has likely happened. A letter in the mail from the IRS about a return the person did not file is the other common signal.
Form 14039 and the IRS letters
Form 14039 is the Identity Theft Affidavit. The IRS says most people do not need it. It is for people the IRS tells to file it, people who cannot use the IRS online verification service, and people who want to report possible tax-related identity theft the agency has no record of, such as after a data breach. It should not be sent again if it was already filed or if the IRS has already written.
The verification service applies only to people who received a CP5071 series notice or letter 5447C. After verifying, the IRS says to wait two to three weeks before checking a refund. Processing can take up to nine weeks.
The IRS lists three phone lines. The identity verification line is 800-908-4490. General account questions go to 800-829-1040. A copy of a filed return can be requested at 800-908-9946, and a copy of a fraudulent return takes Form 4506-F.
Lock the credit file and the tax account
The FTC says a credit freeze is free, does not affect a credit score and lasts until the owner lifts it. It must be placed with each of the three bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. A freeze blocks new credit accounts from being opened in a name, including by the owner, until it is lifted.
A fraud alert is different. An initial alert lasts one year. An extended alert lasts seven years and requires an FTC identity theft report or a police report. A person can have both a freeze and an alert.
The tax side has its own lock, the Identity Protection PIN. The IRS says an IP PIN is a six-digit number that stops anyone else from filing with a Social Security number or ITIN. It is valid for one calendar year. The fastest route is the IP PIN section of an IRS online account. People who cannot set one up and whose adjusted gross income was under $84,000, or $168,000 for joint filers, can file Form 15227. The IRS then calls to verify identity and mails the PIN, usually within four to six weeks. The IRS says it will never ask for the PIN.
Refund checks keep getting targeted
The Tampa case is not alone this month. A federal judge in Boston on October 5 sentenced Lana Ruel of Brockton, Massachusetts, to two months in prison for trying to deposit a Treasury tax refund check of about $931,000 through a company she set up in the payee’s name, according to the IRS Criminal Investigation release. The agency posts new cases on its press release page.
For victims, the common thread is speed. The sooner the report, the freeze and the IRS contact are done, the less room a thief has to open accounts or file again next season. For anyone who has already been hit, the official starting point is the IRS identity theft guide and IdentityTheft.gov, both free.
What stays open after the first hour
The charges in Tampa are only allegations, and the release does not say how many victims there were or whether any have been repaid. The IRS guide covers the steps but gives no refund timeline for a stolen check, and says state tax agencies may have their own steps.
That leaves the question many victims are holding: which of these steps has been done, in what order, and where is the proof? Letters, report numbers and dates all matter if the IRS or a bank asks later.
Refund or check stolen from the mail?
A refund or Treasury check that is taken from the mail can leave a victim with fake accounts, a rejected tax return and a trail of letters nobody has organized. Delays in the first hour are when a thief has the most room to work.
The Senior Fraud Defense & First-Hour Recovery Kit walks through the first-hour recovery plan, the free credit-freeze steps and a fraud evidence and report log. The log gives victims one place to record each report number, call and date for the IRS, the FTC and the three credit bureaus.
Get the first-hour recovery kit and report log for a stolen refund or Treasury check →
More Financial Reading
- 21 Ways to Stretch a $2,087 Social Security Check
- 15 Places to Find Your Share of the $4.25 Billion States Give Back
- The New $6,000 Senior Deduction and 14 More Tax Moves for Retirees
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
