Ramona Man to Be Arraigned in Multimillion-Dollar Tax Fraud and Identity Theft Case

A Ramona man charged with identity theft and stealing more than $11 million in payments meant for the IRS is due to be arraigned in Federal Court today.

Steve Martinez, 49, a former revenue agent with the Internal Revenue Service turned tax preparer, was arrested Friday on suspicion of mail fraud, procuring false tax returns, aggravated identity theft and money laundering, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

A 34-charge indictment against Martinez alleges he gave his clients completed tax returns indicating they owed a significant amount to the IRS, then reportedly persuaded them to write checks to a client trust account, instead of directly to the IRS or California Franchise Tax Board.

Martinez is charged with depositing those checks into several bank accounts in the names of fictitious entities, according to the indictment.

The indictment alleges that Martinez used millions of dollars in tax payments to fuel an extravagant lifestyle including a multimillion dollar home, a plane, boat, motor home, trips to the Super Bowl and vacations in Mexico.

It's also alleged that Martinez tried to conceal the fraud by filing a different set of false tax returns indicating his clients owed little or no income tax.

City News Service contributed to this report.