(AP) – A former Internal Revenue Service agent in Arkansas has been sentenced to more than four years in prison for stealing the identity of a northwest Arkansas business owner.
Court records show 36-year-old Ryan Payne of Barling was sentenced to 52 months on Friday in federal court in Fayetteville.
Payne pleaded guilty in January to false presentation of a Social Security number and aggravated identity theft in exchange for two other charges being dismissed.
Prosecutors say Payne obtained personal information of the business owner while auditing the business for the IRS in 2010. Prosecutors say Payne later used the information open a credit account at a bank.
The names of the business and the business owner were not revealed.
Payne resigned from the IRS in 2015 and was indicted in 2017.
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