El DORADO -- A former El Dorado mail carrier awaits sentencing after entering a guilty plea to a conspiracy to defraud the federal government.
Michael Hearns, 55, of El Dorado pleaded guilty Aug. 16 to conspiracy to defraud the United States, Kenneth Elser, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, said in a news release.
According to the release, Hearns was a mail carrier with the U.S. Postal Service when, from January 2010 to December 2012, he conspired with Venus Ford, Whitney Charles and others to fraudulently obtain money from the federal government by filing false federal income tax returns in the names of others without their knowledge or consent.
Hearns provided addresses from his postal route in El Dorado to others implicated in the case to use for refund mail addresses, the release said. When the returns came in, Hearns provided them to Ford, Charles and others for a fee, according to the release.
Ford and Charles have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
Co-defendants include Shawn D. Carey, Clarisse Carey, Erica Browning, Gregory Taylor, Ecko Scott and Sanjana Aaron, all of whom were sentenced in January 2016 and June to a total of more than 16 years imprisonment.
State Desk on 08/25/2017