FORT WORTH -- A former Radio Shack customer service representative was sentenced to 6½ years in federal prison on Monday for stealing personal information from customers to file false income tax returns to claim refunds.
Youlanda Rochelle Wright, 37, of Fort Worth, was ordered to pay $166,384 in restitution.U.S. District Judge Terry Means sentenced Wright Monday to 78 months after she had pleaded guilty to charges of false claims against the United States and identity theft in December.Wright, who had been on pretrial release, was taken into custody earlier this month after she violated conditions of her release, one of which was that she not be arrested for another crime. Federal court documents indicated that Wright was arrested by Fort Worth police in June on a charge of theft of $50 to $500 and she did not report that arrest to her federal supervising officer on July 3.Wright began working for Radio Shack Corp. as a customer service representative in the company’s call center in 1999, according to federal authorities. In that job, Wright often received personal information from customers, such as social security numbers.The Fort Worth woman admitted to federal authorities that she took that information to file income tax returns in their names to claim refunds. Information was not available on how many claims she had filed.Radio Shack officials fired Wright in 2007 for unauthorized use of customer information.Domingo Ramirez Jr., 817-390-7763; Twitter: @mingoramirezjr.
