Sentencing looms for L.A. County welfare worker who scammed the needy

Trang Van Dinh admitted to using aid recipients' identities to file false tax returns, receiving $1.1 million. He said he was desperate to repay gambling debts.

As a Los Angeles County welfare worker, Trang Van Dinh was the face who stood between the needy and the public assistance checks that helped them survive.

But instead of assisting the unemployed and impoverished people who came to him for help, Dinh used their personal information to file false tax returns in their names — with refunds electronically transferred to bank accounts he controlled, federal prosecutors contend.

All told, prosecutors say, Dinh filed 197 returns seeking more than $2 million in refunds between 2009 and 2010. The Internal Revenue Service issued Dinh more than $1.1 million in refunds before he was arrested last year. In February, Dinh pleaded guilty to two counts of filing false tax returns. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 27 at the federal courthouse in Los Angeles.

He had acknowledged to county investigators that he filed the returns in a desperate attempt to repay gambling debts.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tax-scammer-20110528,0,3734306.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fbusiness+%28L.A.+Times+-+Business%29

This guy needs help.