How Could You? Hall of Shame-Gebah Kamara,Musa Turay,Ibrahim Kamara, Foday Mansaray UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, “a former social worker and three employees of a residential-care facility for the disabled have been charged with selling the identities of children in their care to help others cheat on their taxes – a scheme U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger described Thursday as “truly despicable.”

In addition to Mansaray and the three who worked for Devereux, two other employees of Medmans were also charged with counts of conspiracy, tax fraud, and identity theft.

Momolu Sirleaf, owner of a separate tax-preparation service in Darby Borough, also faces charges for a similar scheme involving identification information of foster children.

In all, prosecutors claim the purported fraud bilked the government out of at least $6 million in unpaid taxes from 2008 to 2013. Five of the eight defendants were arrested Thursday and made initial appearances in federal court in Philadelphia. All were released on bond after surrendering passports from West African nations such as Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Few had attorneys. Gebah Kamara and his lawyer, James Polyak, declined to comment about the case.

Representatives from Catholic Social Services did not return calls Thursday for comment. Gebah Kamara left the agency in 2011 for reasons unrelated to his arrest, Polyak said.

It remained unclear whether Devereux, whose spokeswoman also did not return calls, still employed Turay, Mansaray, and Ibrahim Kamara. It was unclear whether the two Kamaras and the two Mansarays were related.

If convicted, each of the eight defendants faces possible decades-long prison terms.”

Charges in cases of identity theft from children[Philly.com 6/13/14 by Jeremy Roebuck]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

 

Update: “In a pea appearance at Federal Court in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Gebah Kamara, a former worker at the Catholic Social Services pleaded guilty to all charges, including conspiracy to file false tax returns and theft.
As prosecutors went to court armed with a mountain of evident against the Liberian man of Sharon Hill, Gebah pleaded guilty to three counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false income tax returns, one count of wire fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment in June accusing Gebah Kamara, 46, of Sharon Hill, of stealing personal information from several foster children he encountered while working for Catholic Social Services, the charitable wing of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

The indictment alleged that Gebah Kamara, then a social worker at Catholic Social Services, sold the defendant tax preparers the names and Social Security numbers of foster children for the purpose of creating fraudulent dependents on client tax returns.

By including the false dependents, the tax preparers falsely claimed a number of credits and exemptions for their clients, which generated large fraudulent refunds, some in excess of $9,000. The tax preparer defendants charged clients up to $800 to fraudulently add a dependent on their income tax return.

IRS investigators say that company’s owner, Mohamed Mansaray, paid Gebah Kamara and the others for the stolen Social Security numbers and other information, and then charged his clients $800 to claim the children as fraudulent dependents on their tax returns.

With the plea, and without any leniency Gebah Kamara faces 43 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a $1.35 million in fine and restitution, and a $900 special assessment. His sentencing is scheduled for March 3, 2015.”

LIBERIAN FACING 43 YEARS IN PRISON FOR TAX FRAUD AND ID THEFT[Front Page Africa Online 12/8/14]