PITTSBURGH, PA — A resident of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced to 33 months in prison for his role in an elaborate IRS impersonation fraud conspiracy, according to an announcement made on Monday, January 8, 2024, by U.S. Attorney Eric G. Olshan.
Ronnell Taylor Jr., 41, was handed down the sentence by United States District Judge Stephanie L. Haines. In addition to his imprisonment, Taylor will face two years of supervised release. He has also been ordered to pay restitution totaling $193,111 to the 27 victims of his fraudulent scheme.
Court documents reveal that Taylor confessed to participating in a fraud conspiracy involving call centers located in India from March 2016 to August 2017. As part of the scheme, victims in the United States received recorded messages falsely claiming to be from the IRS. The messages alleged that the recipients had failed to pay taxes and instructed them to call a U.S.-based number to resolve the issue.
Calls made to these numbers were automatically forwarded to the Indian call centers, where callers were informed they owed money to the IRS and were pressured to make immediate payment via gift card or other unconventional methods. Taylor played a crucial role in the operation by activating and programming cell phones to forward calls to the overseas call centers. He also enlisted associates, including co-defendant Michael Galanis, to program hundreds of additional cell phones.
When Taylor became aware that co-conspirators in India faced charges related to the fraud scheme, he attempted to destroy evidence, including prepaid credit cards, cell phones, and other documents.
Before imposing the sentence, Judge Haines emphasized the extensive impact of Taylor’s actions, which affected numerous victims and persisted for nearly 18 months. She noted that victims were threatened and some even experienced “financial destruction” as a result of the scheme.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Karen Gal-Or on behalf of the government.
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