2 in Florida charged with tax refund fraud

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TAMPA, Fla., Sept. 20 (UPI) -- Two Florida men have been charged with running a scheme to obtain fraudulent tax refunds from the Internal Revenue Service.

Marterrence Holloway, 33, and Maurice Larry, 26, both of Tampa, were arrested Wednesday, the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times reported. They entered not guilty pleas to conspiracy to defraud the government, aggravated identity theft and wire fraud during a brief hearing in federal court.

Kelley Howard-Allen, an assistant U.S. attorney, said the refund scheme may have cheated the government of as much as $1 million.

The investigation began in 2010 when Tampa narcotics officers looking for Holloway, who had three outstanding arrest warrants, found him in a room at the Howard Johnson Inn with Larry, three other men and four laptop computers, the Times said. The men allegedly had a stock of reloadable debit cards and lists of names and Social Security numbers.

"Operation Rainmaker" eventually involved local and county police and several federal agencies.

More arrests on state and federal charges are expected.