Image of male nurse pushing senior woman in a wheelchair in nursing facility

A Florida man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for a tax fraud that victimized nursing home residents and involved his daughter, a certified nursing assistant, federal and state authorities recently announced.

Norman V. Charlton, 50, pleaded guilty to identity theft and conspiracy charges in March and was sentenced Friday in Tampa, the U.S. Attorney’s office stated. His daughter, Portia Charlton, is in jail on multiple charges of ID theft, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.

Portia Charlton used to be a CNA at Palm Garden of Winter Haven, a 125-bed skilled nursing facility in Winter Haven, FL. Authorities arrested the 23-year-old last year and charged her with stealing personal information of 13 residents, according to local reports.

Nursing home victims were only part of Norman Charlton’s fraud, which resulted in “traceable proceeds” of about $400,000, the U.S. Attorney charged. From August 2011 through June 2012, Charlton and his co-conspirators used stolen identification information to file fake tax returns and get refunds.

Nursing homes have emerged as hotspots for identity theft in the course of a concerted tax fraud crackdown in Florida, undertaken by federal investigators and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. Previous arrests have included Cathy L. McClain, a licensed practical nurse charged with stealing the identities of 83 residents at the nursing facility where she worked.

In an unrelated case, a woman in Georgia is facing 27 years in prison for using nursing home residents’ identities to get fraudulent tax refunds.