MILL SPRING – A Greenville, S.C. man was sentenced to more than six years in federal prison this week and ordered to pay over $200,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for his role in a fraud scheme that occurred in Mill Spring. 

U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger sentenced Carmichael Cornilus Hill, 34, of Greenville, S.C. to 75 months in prison on false claims of conspiracy and aggravated identity theft charges as well as to serve three years under court supervision and to pay the IRS $219,118, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Hill provided his two co-conspirators, Senita Birt Dill and Ronald Jeremy Knowles, formerly of Mill Spring, with fraudulently obtained personal identification information, according to court records.

Hill provided information of individuals to Dill and Knowles, who used it to file more than 1,000 false tax returns and collected more than $3.5 million in fraudulent returns.

Hill obtained the personal information that included names, dates of birth and social security numbers through a variety of ways, including from an unindicted co-conspirator who had access to that information, according to court records.

Hill provided approximately 26 percent of the stolen identifications used in Dill and Knowles’ tax fraud scheme, court records said.

Hill and other co-conspirators of Dill and Knowles shared the fraudulent tax refunds. At times, according to court records, Hill permitted Dill to directly deposit the refunds into his bank account.

Hill pleaded guilty in April 2016 to one count of false claims conspiracy and one count of aggravated identity theft, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Hill was ordered to report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

Dill and Knowles were sentenced earlier this year to 324 months and 70 months in federal prison respectively.

Other defendants in the case, Yolanda Kitson and Cara Michelle Banks were also sentenced this year to 72 months and 70 months in federal prison for their roles in the tax scheme.

All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.