Naples man sentenced for federal wire fraud, ID theft

NAPLES, Fla. — A 49-year-old Naples man was sentenced Monday to nearly 12 years in prison on federal wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges, the Justice Department said.

Jeffrey Ihm, who pleaded guilty in August, was facing up to 30 years in prison. He posed as an executive for a number of companies, including CSX Corporation, and generated fraudulent emails and documents in the name of real company executives to defraud financial institutions, federal prosecutors said.

The Jacksonville Office of the FBI, the Fort Myers Office of the Secret Service and the Collier County Sheriff’s Office worked to unravel clues in the case. The fraud took place between February 2013 and July 2014, according to the Justice Department.

He’ll serve 11 years and eight months in prison and must pay more than $2.2 million in restitution to Wells Fargo Bank, CIT and Key Equipment Finance.

Ihm was also forced to give up $315,000 of proceeds previously seized from a Suncoast Credit Union checking account and a house in the Riverstone Community in Naples that he bought with proceeds from his scheme.