A Cape Girardeau, Missouri, tax preparer who stole personal information from clients and others to drain pandemic aid and state tax refunds was sentenced Tuesday to 39 months in federal prison. Myles Benjamin Depew, 35, also was ordered to pay $25,000 in restitution to the United States and $10,728 to the State of Missouri.
Depew pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. Federal court records show he used one stolen identity in June 2020 to fraudulently apply for and receive an $11,000 Economic Injury Disaster Loan, then used a second stolen identity in July 2020 to secure another fraudulent loan for $14,000. Authorities said those two loans totaled $25,000.
The case matters because Depew did not need sophisticated hacking or a stolen database. He used his job as a tax preparer to get names, birthdates and Social Security numbers that were not his own, then turned that information into cash from federal pandemic relief and Missouri tax refunds. Investigators later determined he used a third person's identity to open a checking account at a West Virginia-based bank, and that account became the landing spot for the fraud.
Court documents say Depew prepared two fraudulent Missouri state income tax returns that led to refunds of $2,060, deposited in February 2022, and $8,668, deposited in April 2023. During an interview with agents from the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, he estimated he spent about $40,000 on casino gambling, $5,000 on food and another $5,000 on methamphetamine.
The sentence closes a case that linked pandemic relief theft and state tax fraud across several years, but it also leaves a plain answer behind: Depew used access he had through his work to steal identities, claimed money he was not entitled to and spent much of it on gambling and drugs. He now faces years in prison, while the restitution order leaves him owing both the federal government and Missouri money that investigators say was taken through the scheme.
