Springfield, Ill. - Jeffrey N. Darr, 49, of Piasa, Illinois, was sentenced today to serve 24 months in federal prison for offering and giving a bribe to an Internal Revenue Service revenue officer in 2006. U.S. District Judge Jeanne E. Scott further ordered Darr to pay a fine of $6,000, and serve three years supervised release upon completion of his prison sentence. Darr was also ordered to forfeit the $3,000 in bribe money he had given the IRS officer. Darr is to report to the federal Bureau of Prisons on May 15, 2008, to serve his sentence.

A jury convicted Darr in August 2007 of offering and giving a bribe to an Internal Revenue Service revenue officer with the intent to persuade the officer to both act and fail to act in violation of the official’s lawful duty. Government evidence presented at trial showed that on November 21, 2006, Darr offered a $5,000 bribe to a revenue officer with the Internal Revenue Service. On December 7, 2006, Darr gave the officer $3,000 and invited her to go boating with him on his 30-foot Mariah boat when he promised he would pay the remaining $2,000.

The charges were the result of an investigation by the Office of the Inspector General for Tax Administration, Department of the Treasury. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Harris.