Prosecutor: Mental Health Worker Stole Patients’ IDs to File False Tax Returns
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Suffolk County DA(NEW YORK) — A New York man used his job at the Long Island Head Injury Association to steal the identities of dozens of patients disabled by head trauma in a crime that went undetected for years, prosecutors said Monday.
Benjamin Achampong, 30, allegedly stole the identities of 56 people with brain injuries — using real names and social security numbers to file false tax returns so he could collect the refunds.
Describing Achampong as “a shameless, incorrigible thief and forger,” Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said “the investigation took quite a while because many of the people with the brain injury really couldn’t cooperate with us.”
Spota’s office said Achampong is charged in a 48-count indictment that alleges grand larceny in the third degree, identity theft in the second degree, offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree and possession of a forged instrument in the second degree.
Achampong has also been accused in a credit card scam that victimized people in Colorado, Georgia, Michigan and Texas.
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