These Jersey residents are accused of ripping off the state of Hawaii. Yes, the state of Hawaii.

Two dozen New Jersey residents have been indicted on charges they filed fraudulent income tax returns with Hawaii worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, state officials said Tuesday.

Mylove D. Tetterton and Anthony Hodges.

Authorities say Mylove D. Tetterton, a tax preparer and owner of Mylove's Tax Service in Jersey City, filed 65 false tax returns with the state of Hawaii for tax year 2013 using dead people's stolen identities and the personal information of others involved in the scheme.

Tetterton, 44, of East Orange, stole $246,667 from the state of Hawaii, which denied another $150,000 in refunds, according to the state Division of Criminal Justice.

The majority of the proceeds of the fraudulent refunds were sent to Tetterton's co-conspirators who passed the money along to her, authorities said.

Authorities name her husband, Anthony Hodges, 43, of East Orange, as the scheme's "money man" responsible for collecting the cash.

His sister, Rosetta Hodges, 36, of Neptune, was also indicted, as were three of Tetterton's children, including Mylove A. Tetterton, 26, Khyreq Tetterton, 25, and Kaseem Stephens, all of East Orange.

"Tetterton allegedly was prolific in filing false tax returns, recruiting a crew of relatives and friends to convert nearly a quarter of a million dollars in ill-gotten refund checks into cash," Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in a statement. "Fraud of this type is costly to taxpayers everywhere ..."

All 24 New Jerseyans face charges of conspiracy, trafficking in personal identifying information of another, theft by deception, receiving stolen property, money laundering and forgery.

Among the indicted are:

  • Constantine Kunaka, 26, of Jersey City
  • Jean Allen, 47, of Egg Harbor
  • Valerie Anderson, 54, of East Orange
  • Karen Bristol-Thomas, 54, of Whitesboro
  • Max Clairsin, 26, of Jersey City
  • Jamal Coar, 27, of Jersey City
  • Jasmire Coar, 27, of Jersey City
  • Gabriel Daravina, 42, of Roselle
  • Chante Darby, 32, of Jersey City
  • Yvette Fountain, 38, of Jersey City
  • Kevin Grant, 48, of Jersey City
  • Reginald Haines, 50, of Neptune
  • Destry Harries, 41, of Newark
  • Joseph Pierce, 48, of New Brunswick
  • Yolanda Terry, 43, of Freehold
  • Jermaine Thomas, 46, of Jersey City
  • William Young, 57, of Jersey City
  • D'Jenne Zulu, 24, of Egg Harbor

Mylove D. Tetterton's attorney, Wanda Akin, said Tetterton "maintains her innocence."

The attorney for Anthony Hodges could not be immediately reached for comment.

The New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice, State Police Cyber Crimes Unit and Division of Taxation's Office of Criminal Investigation collaborated on the investigation with Hawaii's Department of Taxation, which initially detected the fraudulent returns.

Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

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