Polk County’s Sheriff Grady Judd says suspects allegedly prayed on the elderly and now nineteen people have been arrested as part of operation “Stop the Drop.”
It is alleged that the suspects defrauded taxpayers and the IRS to the tune of $500,000.
Authorities say some of the suspects working in nursing homes would steal patients’ information from their medical files, and then they’d sell it to other people who would use it to file fraudulent tax returns.
Sheriff Grady Judd says they often file them electronically so they can get refunds quicker.
Sheriff Judd says this resulted in nearly 400 identity thefts and the majority of those people were in nursing homes and weren’t aware of what was happening.
The suspect’s face numerous charges including things like grand theft, fraud and money laundering.
