Employees at Totowa mental health facility admit stealing patient information to file fake tax returns

A nurse and a co-worker at a state-run mental health facility in Totowa are facing up to 10 years in prison after admitting that they stole patient information that was used to file phony tax returns in a bid to obtain nearly $400,000 in refunds.

Alidu Dramani, 33, a practical nurse from Irvington, and Evans Boamah, 30, of Elizabeth, a human services assistant, admitted to U.S. District Judge William J. Martini in Newark earlier this month that they stole the names and Social Security numbers of patients at the North Jersey Developmental Center.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
They then gave the stolen identity information to a conspirator, who was a tax preparer, to file false tax returns and get federal tax refunds to which they were not entitled, authorities said.

As a result of the defendants’ participation in the conspiracy, tax preparers filed, attempted and intended to file false tax returns for 2009 through 2011 seeking $396,416 in tax refunds, authorities said.

Dramani, who was hired in 2007 and earned $49,134, and Boamah, who started a year later and made $33,290, were arrested by agents of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations unit in August 2012.

They were suspended without pay and are facing termination from their jobs at the 188-acre campus in Totowa, which currently serves 283 developmentally disabled residents, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services said Tuesday.

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Employees at Totowa mental health facility admit stealing patient information to file fake tax returns