Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, and Kelly R. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), announced that Richard Anthony Siler, 50, of Hollywood, was sentenced to 154 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release after being convicted at trial of one count of use of unauthorized access devices, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1029(a)(2), one count of possession of fifteen or more unauthorized access devices, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1029(a)(3), and three counts of aggravated identity theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028A(a)(1).

According to the evidence presented at trial, Siler had previously provided lists of individuals’ personal identity information to an FBI confidential source knowing the identity information would be used for identity theft tax refund fraud. In a subsequent recorded conversation, Siler told the confidential source that Siler could sell approximately “ten thousand” to “thirteen thousand” people’s identity information a week. Siler also told the confidential source that these identities were “never before revealed.” The evidence at trial established that Siler had worked for a company where he had access to lists of people’s personal identity information.

On February 14, 2014, Richard Siler sent an e-mail to the confidential source containing an attachment with the personal identity information of approximately 5,200 elderly Medicare patients. On that same date, the confidential source provided Siler with $6,200 in currency in exchange for those identities and Siler was arrested. Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI and IRS-CI. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael N. Berger and Francisco Maderal.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.