The
gunman involved in the recent deadly shooting near Texas A&M may have been
dealing with some mental health issues. Former criminal defense attorney W.
Tyler Moore, an attorney for the family of the shooter, would not elaborate
Tuesday on what type of mental problems Thomas Alton Caffall III had, stating
only that he “wasn’t the same kid that he used to be,” and that he had “known
him since he was 4 years old.” The attorney’s comments come on the heels of
Monday’s deadly shooting, which began when Brazos County Constable Brian
Bachmann approached Caffall’s rental home to deliver a notice for Caffall to
appear in court on August 23 due to a total of $1250 he owed in back rent.
Bachmann’s
death has been ruled a homicide, as law enforcement officials believe he was
gunned down by Caffall as he approached the home. Police have indicated that
Caffall was in possession of multiple weapons, fired several times Monday, and
was fatally wounded by officers responding to reports of gunfire. Police have
yet to say whose gunfire struck 6 other people, including a bystander and
another constable who both died from gunshot wounds. College Station Police
Chief Jeff Capps said Tuesday that the crime scene is still being processed.
Capps also indicated that he was unaware of any law enforcement contact with
the gunman prior to the murder of Constable Bachmann.
Parkman & White - Criminal Law Blog
Criminal Law blog focused on news articles and information about white collar crime.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Identity Theft the New Tax Fraud
One of the most common forms of
criminal tax crime is when a taxpayer files a tax return containing fraudulent
income information. This is often
referred to as criminal tax evasion, as the filer is attempting to evade paying
taxes on income earned. However,
white-collar criminal lawyers have seen an increase in recent years of another form
of tax crime – identity theft.
Criminal identity theft occurs
when someone’s identifying information such as their name, social security
number and date of birth is stolen. This
is typically done in order to steal from the victim by using their name, social
security number and date of birth to access their bank accounts, or to obtain
credit under their name, with no intention to repay.
Criminal attorneys say a common variation
of this identity theft scheme now involves perpetrators applying for tax
refunds under another person’s name.
This tax fraud has become so common that the Internal Revenue Service
has issued warnings to U.S. taxpayers in recent days to not provide personal
information to anyone without confirming their identity.
Alleged offenders will contact
taxpayers via telephone, email, or even Facebook, indicating they are employees
of the IRS and need to confirm the taxpayer’s name and social security number
in order to process their refund. Many
unsuspecting taxpayers provide this identifying information, not knowing that
they are in reality providing information to someone that intends to use it for
a crime. Once this information is in the wrong hands,
the offender will apply for tax returns in the taxpayers name using the real
name and social security number, but with fraudulent income information. Once the refund is provided to the fake tax
filer, it can cause problem with the true taxpayer, and could even cause them
to become the target of a criminal tax fraud or tax evasion investigation.
If you are being wrongly
investigated for tax evasion or tax fraud, it could be that someone stole your
name and social security number, forged your signature, and filed a fraudulent
tax return. You could be the victim of
Identity Theft.
Likewise, many tax preparers are
being investigated for Identity Theft for filing tax returns for customers,
which contain fraudulent income information.
When these customers are ultimately investigated for tax evasion, they
try to blame it on their tax preparer, accountant or tax service and claim they
never provided the false information and never signed their return. In some cases that may actually be true and
they may really be innocent of tax evasion, but victim’s of Identity theft.
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