Man sentenced to nearly five years in prison for role in filing fraudulent tax returns

A Sarasota man was sentenced to almost five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to theft of government property, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.

Obenson Cerulist, 27, of Sarasota, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Kovachevich to four years and 11 months in prison. He pleaded guilty on April 24.

A search warrant was executed in September 2013 on a Bradenton home that Cerulist was sharing with Brandon Taylor. The search revealed more than 250 items of personal identifying information, or PII, belonging to others, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Cerulist’s girlfriend’s home, where he occasionally stayed, was also searched in February 2014 where additional PII was found that he was filing fraudulent tax returns, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The Internal Revenue Service estimated they directly lost $156,399.39 due to the fraudulent tax returns. The total amount claimed as a result of fraudulent tax returns was $571,708, according to the release.

In August 2016, Taylor was sentenced to 32 months in federal prison for his role in stealing government funds. In February, Cerulist’s girlfriend, Loretta Gilchrist, was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.

This story was originally published August 29, 2017 at 9:58 AM with the headline "Man sentenced to nearly five years in prison for role in filing fraudulent tax returns."