Lee County Man Sentenced To Four Years For Theft Of Government Money And Aggravated Identity Theft

Fort Myers, Florida – U.S. District Judge John E. Steele has sentenced George Joyner, III (36) to four years in federal prison for theft of government money and aggravated identity theft.  The Court also ordered Joyner to pay $169,456.90 in restitution to the United States Department of the Treasury.

According to court documents, on August 10, 2013, Joyner was arrested for driving with a suspended license. Prior to the car being towed from the scene, officers from the Fort Myers Police Department conducted an inventory of Joyner’s vehicle and found a laptop, various digital media storage devices, two credit card readers, a credit card encoder, credit card blanks, and several pieces of paper containing the personally identifiable information (PII) of others. The officers obtained a search warrant for Joyner’s electronic media. Subsequent forensic analyses of the media revealed a spreadsheet containing the PII of 163 individuals. 

In December 2011, Joyner had opened an account at Regions Bank with a $100 deposit.  Five U.S. Treasury tax refund checks, totaling $41,184.31, were deposited into the account later that month.  Joyner also had an account at Wells Fargo bank.  Between October and November 2011, he deposited 17 tax refund checks, totaling $128,272.59, into that account.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the Fort Myers Police Department and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Yolande G. Viacava.