Queens Men Face Jail Time For Stealing, Selling IDs Of NYC Students

QUEENS, NY -- Two Queens men could each face years of jail time for stealing and selling IDs used to file fraudulent tax returns with the IRS for thousands of dollars.

Both men pleaded guilty Tuesday for their roles in the separate stolen identity refund schemes, said Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

Kishore Jattan, 44, stole student IDs from packages he delivered for an unnamed university in New York from April to June in 2012, according to his plea agreement and court documents. Jattan admitted he sold the stolen IDs to people who used them to file fraudulent tax returns with the IRS, causing a tax loss of up to $550,000, Goldberg said.

Michael Bratton, 51, admitted to purchasing stolen IDs and giving them to a co-conspirator to file fraudulent tax returns with the IRS from January, 2011, to June, 2012, according to his plea agreement and court documents. He caused a tax loss of more than $40,000, Goldberg said.

Jattan, who pleaded guilty to identity theft, faces up to 15 years in prison. Bratton pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States and faces up to five years in prison.

Both men are set to be sentenced on March 21, 2018.

Lead image via Patch.