Cobb Grand Jury Indicts Four For Tax Fraud

A Cobb County grand jury has indicted four people on over 3,000 charges related to a tax fraud scheme that allegedly stole the identities of nearly 2,000 victims and netted the participants nearly $2 million.

Shannon Jay Bradley, 35; Shelronda Kay Bingham, 44; Shanese Machelle Lewis, 42; and Risha Michelle Hardin, 36, are facing 3,736 counts in the indictment. The crimes they stand accused of include computer theft, computer forgery, identity fraud, evidence tampering, burglary, money laundering, and racketeering.

According to the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office, the four co-defendants began their tax fraud scheme in 2005, and included the 2012 burglary of five tax preparation offices in the county. In 2013, the four used the personal information of 1,859 victims to claim $2 million in fraudulent state income tax refunds.

Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren said in a release that his office had devoted 13 months and 5,000 hours to investigating the scheme, alongside the Dallas and Duluth police departments and the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office. The investigators managed to seize assets belonging to the co-defendants, including a condominium in Buckhead and $200,000 in cash.

“I am very proud of this indictment,” Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds said in a statement.

“This is a unique case. It’s obviously a complicated case, given the number of victims, transactions, and charges. I don’t know that Cobb County has ever seen a case with this many charges. We look forward to proving this case beyond a reasonable doubt and seeing justice done.”

No arraignment date has been set in this case.