Aaron Troupe, 30, who was in the business of filing false tax returns using stolen identities, was sentenced to five years and one month in federal prison for theft of government property and aggravated identity theft. Troupe also had debit cards in his name that had been loaded with illegally obtained federal income tax refunds. He was ordered to pay $449,529.97 to the IRS.
From 2012 to 2018 Troupe, a member of the “Manche Boy Mafia” participated in identity refund fraud and credit card fraud.
Troupe’s days of crime came to an end when a property cleaning service found firearms, a laptop and notebooks in an abandoned property they were cleaning. They turned their findings over to the Tampa police, who were able to track Troupe through a variety of identifying markers, one being his fingerprints.
For tax years 2011 to 2013, Troupe filed numerous fraudulent tax returns claiming refunds totaling $1,295,583. The IRS did not pay the total amount claimed, but still paid out $449,529.
