Previously deported South Korean national from Federal Way sentenced in ID theft case
Published 7:38 pm Friday, March 18, 2016
A South Korean national living in Federal Way was sentenced in the U.S. District Court in Seattle on Friday to four-and-a-half years in prison and $49,815 in restitution for identity theft and other crimes.
Chong Hwa Lim, aka Jong Wha Rim, aka Jay Min Go, among other aliases, pleaded guilty in December 2015 to aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, illegal re-entry after deportation, forgery and false use of a passport and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
According to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington, Lim, 64, was arrested in April 2015 in connection with a bank fraud investigation. Law enforcement officers searched Lim’s Federal Way apartment and found high-end equipment for producing fake identity documents; police equipment; counterfeit identifications, credit cards and immigration documents; hundreds of new Social Security cards; two firearms; and a binder containing names, Social Security numbers; “and other identifying information for taxpayers (real and fake).”
IRS officials said Lim stole hundreds of identities, which he used to file tax returns claiming at least $457,000 in fraudulent tax refunds. He received more than $49,000 in fraudulent refunds, according to U.S. Attorney documents, before the IRS halted the rest of the funds from being disbursed and launched an investigation.
Lim was deported in 1995 for human smuggling and making false statements to a border agent. He re-entered the U.S. using a fake Korean passport, which he also used to obtain a Washington state driver’s license in a false name.
“Close to one in 10 Americans have had their identities stolen,” IRS agent Teri Alexander said of Lim’s case. “The intended goal of this fraud was to steal from the U.S. Treasury, but the real impact is felt by the victims whose lives were turned upside-down when their personal and private information was used in the commission of this crime.”
About 18 million people in the U.S. had their identities stolen in 2015, and Washington state ranks second in the country in reported identity theft cases.
