Tamarac Man Stuffed Fraudulent Tax Return Checks in Mouth at Airport: BSO

Marc Saintjuste, 45, faces 10 counts of identity theft, authorities say

A Tamarac man was arrested on 10 counts of identity theft after he stuffed an envelope holding fraudulent tax return checks totaling close to $60,000 into his mouth during a U.S. Customs exam at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said.

After Marc Saintjuste, 45, flew in from Haiti on Saturday, Customs noticed a bulge in his front right pants pocket, the BSO said in his arrest affidavit.

He was asked to remove the object, which was an envelope. But when Saintjuste was asked to turn over the envelope he refused, according to the BSO.

“The defendant then inserted the contents of the envelope into his mouth,” the affidavit says.

Saintjuste was part of a scheme in which suspects secure people’s names and Social Security numbers and then get tax return checks mailed to them, the BSO said. Authorities said they recovered four U.S. Treasury and six “Advent Financial” tax return checks from his mouth.

Saintjuste said that someone in Haiti gave him the checks to give to someone else who was supposed to contact him at the Fort Lauderdale airport, and that “he was going to get 25% for transporting the checks,” the affidavit says. He is originally from Haiti, according to the affidavit.

Saintjuste faces six counts of fraudulently attempting to use the identification of another person without their consent, and four counts of fraudulently attempting to use the identification of another without their consent for $5,000 or more, according to BSO records.

Saintjuste is being held at the Broward Main Jail on an immigration hold, according to BSO records.

Neither an attorney for Saintjuste nor a future court date was listed for his case Tuesday. The presiding judge is Bernard Bober.

South Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said last week she is sponsoring legislation, called the STOP-IT Act, which would increase penalties for people who use stolen identities to file tax returns.

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