Milwaukee woman gets 10 years for role in identify-theft, tax-fraud scheme

Listen to this article

A Milwaukee County judge has sentenced a local woman to 10 years in prison for her part in a stolen-identity and tax-fraud scheme that resulted in 90 felony charges for her and her two sisters.

Besides 10 years in prison, Sharon Staten of Milwaukee will have to spend 10 years under extended supervision and will have to work with her accomplices to repay the $202,520 that was obtained fraudulently. Sharon Staten and her two sisters, Angela and Tawanda, are believed to have been part of a massive scheme that led to the filing of 2,000 fraudulent tax claims between Jan. 1, 2011, and Dec. 31, 2012.

The accomplices attempted to obtain $960,175 worth of tax returns in total, according to a statement released Thursday by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue. But DOR officials discovered a pattern in the returns and were able to block $725,785 worth of the fraudulently claimed refunds, according to the statement.

Sharon Staten’s sister, Angela, was sentenced on Feb. 9 to 14 years in prison and 14 years of extended supervision for the same crimes. The third sister, Tawanda, is meanwhile scheduled to be tried before a jury starting Monday.

The sisters are believed to have had two additional accomplices in the scheme: James Cross and Anthony Coleman. Coleman is scheduled to appear in court on March 1.

The DOR’s criminal investigation agents told officials in the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office of their suspicions in April 2014 following a lengthy investigation into the activities of the Staten sisters. Using a search warrant in May 2012, DOR agents discovered reams of evidence showing what they believed were many instances of identify theft. Among that evidence were documents and computer files containing names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers.