VALDOSTA – A former Valdosta woman is among a group pleading guilty to charges stemming from a tax-fraud scheme seeking to claim more than $2 million in refunds, according to the United States Attorney Middle District of Georgia Office.

Saferia Johnson, 34, formerly of Valdosta, and Leo McGill, 51, of Calera, Ala., each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to steal government funds and one count of aggravated identity theft last week in a Lowndes County federal courtroom, according to court records.

Co-defendant Detrone Middleton, 38, of Douglas pleaded guilty to similar charges last month, according to court officials.

In 2012, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations received information that three people and others had received a large number of tax-refund deposits issued in other people’s names, according to the U.S. Attorney Office.

The IRS determined Johnson, McGill and Middleton were “involved in a scheme where fraudulent federal income tax returns were filed for tax years 2010 and 2011 and refunds deposited into 45 separate bank accounts,” according to court officials.

“The defendants admitted to filing approximately 984 fraudulent returns using stolen identities for tax years 2010 and 2011,” according to the U.S. Attorney Office. “The fraudulent returns, which were filed without the knowledge or permission of the individuals whose identities had been stolen, sought refunds of $2,082,275. Refunds totaling $1,498,776 were issued by the IRS on those returns in the form of direct deposits to the 45 bank accounts, checks or debit cards.”

Investigators interviewed several people whose identities were stolen and they told investigators they had not filed nor did they authorize the defendants to file for them. Most of the stolen identities belonged to people who were minors at the time of the theft, according to court records.

The three defendants each face up to five years in federal prison for the conspiracy charge and two more years each for the aggravated identity theft charge, as well as restitution for about $1.5 million, according to court officials.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert D. McCullers prosecuted the case.