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Former Philadelphia IRS Worker Sentenced For Stealing Her Landlord's Identity

By Steve Tawa

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A former IRS worker at the Philadelphia Service Center who admitted to using her position to steal her former landlord's identity appeared before a Federal Court judge Thursday for sentencing.

When 49-year old Domeen Flowers appeared before Judge Eduardo Robreno, he learned that she had vowed to "take pills and not wake up, rather than go to prison." That immediately brought up the issue of whether she should be allowed to self-surrender, as originally planned, or be remanded immediately to prison.

She told the judge she was not "suicidal, only depressed," loved her family, and wanted to see them again.

He then sentenced her to 28 months in prison, but in an abundance of caution, for her own safety, the judge ordered her to begin serving it immediately.

"But the takeaway to this case is the problem of identity theft." Federal prosecutor Floyd Miller said.

Flowers, who was indicted by a grand jury, admitted obtaining the personal identifying information of her former landlord to get a credit card. But the company red-flagged it on her attempt to use it to pay a bill.

"If people get caught committing identity theft, they're going to go to jail. there's a mandatory minimum sentence of two years," Miller said.

The guidelines in this case provided for a sentence of 28-to-34-months of imprisonment.

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