On January 22, 2018, in the Northern District of Mississippi, Joel Pando was sentenced for conspiracy to commit wire fraud in association with a scheme involving the impersonation of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees.1 Pando was initially indicted for this offense and others in April 2017,2 and was arrested by Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration special agents in May 2017.3 Pando pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge in August 2017.4
According to the court documents, between August 2015 and January 2016, Pando knowingly and willfully conspired with others to devise a scheme to defraud and obtain money by means of false and fraudulent pretenses.5
To wit, coconspirators, working in conjunction with Pando, made unsolicited telephone calls to target victims and identified themselves either as IRS employees or as representatives of loan companies. If the caller was posing as an IRS employee, the victim was told that he or she owed money to the IRS, and that the debt must be paid immediately or the individual would risk arrest, deportation, or suspension of a driver's license. The caller would direct the victim to a certain location to wire funds, typically a Walmart store. The caller would provide the victim with a name, location, and dollar amount for the wire transfer and would remain on the telephone with the victim to monitor the transactions.6
One victim was told she owed back taxes and if she did not pay immediately she would be arrested, her Social Security benefits would be taken, and she would lose her home. The victim wired a total of $18,800 to Pando as instructed.7
Pando would go to the location where the funds were being sent and show identification that was in the name of the person designated to receive the funds. Pando used at least 21 names as aliases in the execution of the scheme, including some of legitimate IRS executives and employees, and received wire transfers in at least eight different States. In furtherance of the conspiracy, Pando would also purchase airfare and rental vehicles for other conspirators in order for them to travel to various locations to receive wire transfers from victims.8
Pando was sentenced to 46 months' imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release.9
1 N.D. Miss. Judgment filed Jan. 24, 2018.
2 N.D. Miss. Indict. filed Apr. 19, 2017.
3 N.D. Miss. Crim. Docket as of Feb. 14, 2018.
4 N.D. Miss. Plea Agr. filed Aug. 21, 2017.
5 N.D. Miss. Indict. filed Apr. 19, 2017.
6 Id.
7 Id.
8 Id.
9 N.D. Miss. Judgment filed Jan. 24, 2018.