Marc Saint Juste Tried To Eat Fraudulent Tax Returns At Fort Lauderdale Airport: Police

A Florida man was arrested at the airport after he bit off more than he could chew during tax season.

Authorities say Marc Saint Juste, 45, of Tamarac attempted to eat fraudulent tax return checks while going through U.S. Customs April 15 at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

Customs officers noticed a bulge in Saint Juste’s pants pocket after he returned from a trip to Haiti, and asked him to remove the item, an envelope, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office arrest report.

“When asked to turn over the envelope, the defendant refused. The defendant then inserted the contents of the envelope into his mouth,” wrote an arresting officer.

Officers recovered 10 checks totaling $62,366.87, made out to residents all over Broward and Miami-Dade, officials said. Saint Just told officers that a person in Haiti gave the checks to him with instructions to turn them over to another person at the airport, at which point he would be compensated with 25 percent of the money.

He was arrested on 10 counts of attempting to use another person’s identification without their consent, four of the counts on amounts more than $5,000.

Saint Juste remains at Broward’s main jail on an immigration hold, a BSO employee confirmed.

WATCH: How the IRS is protecting taxpayers from identity theft and tax fraud: