Billy Altidor and Evanie Louis, the parents at the popular YouTube channel B.E.A.M. Squad were sentenced to prison and to pay a compensation fine for stealing government funds and personal data.
B.E.A.M. Squad channel managed to become famous for its content where parents Billy Altidor, 28, and Evanie Louis, 27, recorded themselves doing everyday activities with their two young children.
Activity on the channel is constant and they have even been uploading content related to coronavirus in recent days.
This constancy, combined with pleasant content for all audiences, is what allowed them to get more than 1.4 million subscribers. However, fans of the channel are having a difficult time due to the criminal acts of Billy and Evanie, who will have to take a trip to prison.
Stealing from the social security system
The West Palm Beach couple pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal government funds from My Social Security (MySSA), in addition to stealing personal information from beneficiaries of the social assistance program.
The Justice Department indicated that the case dates back to 2014 and 2015 when the couple, with the help of other conspirators, managed to steal the identity of 1,400 individuals to access their MySSA accounts.
The conspirators also used stolen personal information to file false tax returns and directed the fraudulently obtained tax refunds into accounts they controlled, investigators said.
Initially, Altidor and Louis faced a maximum sentence of seven years in prison, two of which would be mandatory for the crime of aggravated identity theft, and up to a maximum of five years for the crime of conspiracy against the State.
However, on Monday during a hearing in Orlando federal court, the decision was made to jail Altidor for two years, while his wife was sentenced to 366 days, likely because of her pregnancy. Both will be held in federal prison.
The couple must also pay a $94,000 fine in restitution for damages caused. How this will affect the YouTube channel remains to be seen as well as the fate of the two children.
