Myrtle Beach man gets prison sentence for tax fraud

A 49-year-old Myrtle Beach man was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Wednesday in a Charleston federal court for cashing at least $1.6 million in fraudulent tax refund checks from 2009 to 2014.

Jose Boyzo was convicted of theft of government property, and United States District Judge David C. Norton of Charleston sentenced Boyzo to three years supervised release in addition to 18 months imprisonment, according to a press release.

Evidence in the case showed Boyzo operated a licensed check cashing business in Myrtle Beach and cashed more than 4,305 tax refund checks from fraudulent tax returns from 2009 to 2014, the release states.

Boyzo aided and abetted tax fraud by knowingly cashing tax refund checks, authorities said.

The Internal Revenue Service investigated and found Boyzo caused at least $1.6 million in loss to the U.S. Treasury.

Agents from the IRS-Criminal Investigative Division and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of the Inspector General investigated the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Rhett DeHart of the Charleston, according to the release.

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Myrtle Beach man gets prison sentence for tax fraud."