Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced on Monday the takedown of a Long Beach Crip street gang that operated an identity-theft scheme to perpetuate tax fraud, stealing over $3.3 million and attempting to steal over $11 million via tax fraud. The operation resulted in 22 members of the Insane Crip street gang being taken into custody on charges that include 283 counts of criminal conspiracy, 299 counts of identity theft, 226 counts of grand theft and 58 counts of attempted theft, according to the State of California Department of Justice.
“This violent street gang orchestrated a sophisticated scheme to steal the identities of hardworking Californians and defraud the government of millions in taxpayer money,” Harris said. “These victims had their identities stolen and faced financial harm as a result of this theft. My office is committed to dismantling these criminal organizations and targeting their illicit income sources. I thank our law-enforcement partners for their thorough investigation in this matter.”
The arrest is the culmination of a three-year investigation into the Insane Crip street gang that began after a Long Beach crime spree tied to the gang, according to the California Department of Justice. A Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) detective discovered evidence containing the personal-identifying information of hundreds of California residents at an address associated with the gang. The defendants had used the stolen personal-identifying information to commit financial crimes, including identity theft and tax-return fraud.
“Our detectives did an outstanding job uncovering this crime scheme,” said Robert Luna, Long Beach police chief. “Our partnership with assisting law-enforcement agencies was instrumental in bringing this case together. These financial crimes are funding gang activity within our city and impacting the lives of many people through monetary loss and concerns about vulnerability.”
The fraudulent actions also extended to the postal-service system, which was viewed as a source of the identity-theft crimes, according to Robert Wemyss, inspector-in-charge of the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS).
“Today’s arrests are a victory for law enforcement in the ongoing battle against gangs who commit financial crimes through our nation’s mail system and victimize an entire nation of law-abiding citizens,” Wemyss said. “Postal inspectors remain dedicated to collaborating with our law-enforcement partners in the investigation of these crimes that victimize our citizens and finance criminal enterprise.”
The defendants exchanged the stolen information via text messages to the leaders of the scheme, who would then file fraudulent tax returns, obtain the refunds and load them onto prepaid debit cards in the name of other victims. The debit cards were then used to fund the gang’s illicit activities and lavish lifestyle and to recruit members, according to the Department of Justice.
Tax-return fraud occurs when an individual files a tax return with someone else’s personal identifying information and collects a tax refund from the IRS. Victims are unlikely to know their identities have been stolen until they attempt to file a tax return that is rejected by the IRS because one has already been filed.
The Attorney General’s eCrime Unit (eCU) and Financial Frauds and Special Prosecutions Section (FFSPS) are jointly prosecuting the case, which resulted from an investigation by the LBPD and the USPIS.
