$500,000 Found In Illegal Immigrant Tax Raid in Hall County

HALL COUNTY, Ga. -- The FBI seized $500,000 in cash during a raid of an illegal immigrant's home as part of an investigation into false tax filings, agents said.

Federal agents and Hall County deputies arrested 34-year old Guillermo Merino on Friday after a traffic stop in Gainesville.

Investigators told Channel 2's Richard Elliot they found more than $50,000 in his car. Afterward, they searched his house and said they discovered more than $450,000 in cash inside the home. According to agents, they seized a total of $540,000.

Investigators told Elliot they think Merino was filing tax retus on behalf of other illegal immigrants then keeping the refunds.

"He was filing W-2s on illegal immigrants' T-Numbers, which is like a Social Security number," said Lt. Scott Ware of the Hall County Sheriff’s Safe Streets Task Force.

Ware said Merino got checks sent to a P.O. box or to an address, cashed them, then kept all the money. He wasn't sure if Merino stole the identities of the immigrants or had their permission. Either way, Ware said, Merino cheated them out of money.

When Elliot went by Merino's home, Merino's mother agreed to talk to him. Through a translator, she told Elliot that she was well aware of the large amount of cash inside the house but thought her son acquired it legally.

She said she believed her son had written permission from those immigrants to file those tax retus. She also admitted Merino was in the country illegally.

Maria Romero is a cab driver who works in the area. She heard about the arrest and told Elliot she always was immigrants not to trust people offering to help without first verifying who they are.

"It's pretty sad that people take advantage of things like that," said Romero. "I always try to tell my customers to be aware what they're doing and don't trust anybody on the streets who tell them I'll do this for you or will do that. I just tell them to go to a place where they have a name and have a permit and everything else."

Merino is charged only with forgery, but the FBI is continuing its investigation. Investigators also want to lea more about how illegal immigrants are able to file tax retus.