Lynn man faces prison, deportation for tax fraud

LYNN – A Lynn man accused of stealing social security numbers for the purpose of filing false tax returns was sentenced to two years in prison and faces deportation, the Internal Revenue Service announced Wednesday.The United States Attorney’s Office said it actually sentenced 34-year-old Alberto Rodriguez of Lynn and 49-year-old Luis Pena of Worcester Feb. 12 for their roles in a widespread scheme, but held off on releasing details of the sentencing until this week.According to a federal investigation, Pena and Rodriguez, who are both citizens of the Domincan Republic, were arrested on a complaint in March 2008 and charged with conspiring to obtain social security numbers from Dominican and Puerto Rican citizens.The complaint alleges that the men used the social security numbers to file fraudulent federal income tax and W-2 forms for the purpose of cashing in on false tax refunds.Both men pleaded guilty to the charges in December and were sentenced in February.U.S. District Judge Rya W. Zobel sentenced Rodriguez to two years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Pena was sentenced to time served over 10 months imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release.Both men face deportation.