Fraud case: former New Mexico taxation employee sentenced

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A former New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department employee has been sentenced to nearly eight years in prison for wire fraud, identity theft and money laundering.

Federal prosecutors said 46-year-old George Martinez also was ordered by a judge, Wednesday, to pay more than $1.2 million in restitution.

Martinez, of Albuquerque, was given a 94-month sentence after pleading guilty, in July, to 42 counts each of wire fraud and identity theft and six counts of money laundering.

Prosecutors said Martinez used his position as the unit supervisor/bureau chief of the Questionable Refund Unit at the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department to fraudulently alter tax refunds and direct them to bank accounts that he controlled from 2009 until July 2018.