Men Indicted for Identity Theft and Tax Fraud at Silver Spring Business

Two men were indicted by a federal grand jury Monday in Greenbelt on charges that they prepared and filed false tax returns using personal information stolen from customers of their Silver Spring tax service, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Baltimore announced in a news release.

Ewdy Jose Olivo, 28, of Rockville, and Juan Manuel Olivo, 30, of Hyattsville, stole information and prepared false returns through Oligil Tax Services, which they owned and operated at 8549 Piney Branch Rd., accoring to an 18-count indictment.

Click the PDF above to read the full indictment.

The indictment seeks the forfeiture of $88,960 seized on April 10 from the tax office and from a Silver Spring home owned by Juan Olivo, the release said.

From April 2007 to January 2010, the brothers stole personal information such as Social Security numbers and birth dates from Puerto Rico residents,  federal prosecutors said.

According to the indictment, the brothers prepared false income tax returns in the Puerto Rico residents' names and filed them electronically with the IRS in Maryland. Residents of Puerto Rico are not required to file federal income tax returns as long as all of their income comes from Puerto Rican sources.

The indictment details 13 refund claims totaling $43,264 and ranging from $1,562 to $4,950. 

Prosecutors said the Olivos requested the IRS mail refund checks to addresses the brothers controlled. The brothers then deposited the checks into their bank accounts, the indictment said.

The brothers’ initial court appearance has not yet been scheduled, the release said. Online court records did not list attorney information for either brother.

If found guilty, the brothers could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for conspiring to commit wire fraud and for each of 11 counts for wire fraud, the release said. They also could face a mandatory minimum of two years in prison on each of six counts of aggravated identity theft, the release said. That sentence would be consecutive to any other sentence imposed.

"IRS Criminal Investigation has made investigating refund fraud and identity theft a top priority,” Sheila Olander, acting special agent in charge for IRS Criminal Investigation in Washington, DC, said in the release. Olander joined U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein in announcing the indictment. “We are aggressively pursuing identify thieves and working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in bringing to justice those who harm and steal from the American taxpayer,” she said.