TWO STONEHAM PLUMBERS PLEAD GUILTY TO TAX VIOLATIONS
BOSTON, MA - Two Stoneham men were convicted today in federal court of engaging in a conspiracy to defraud the United States by concealing receipts from their local plumbing business, as well as to filing false personal tax returns.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Susan Dukes, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation - Boston Field Division, announced today that PAUL T. WALSH, SR., age 70, of Stoneham, MA and JOSEPH G. WALSH, 48, of Stoneham, MA each pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Rya W. Zobel to one count of conspiracy and one count of filing a false personal tax return.
At today’s plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that had the case proceeded to trial the Government’s evidence would have proven that the WALSHES diverted corporate receipts from their Medford plumbing business, Paul T. Walsh & Sons, Inc., by depositing over $1 million in business receipts into bank accounts that were concealed from the Internal Revenue Service. The WALSHES further concealed the diversion of funds by not recording the related invoices in the company’s QuickBooks or other accounting workpapers. The WALSHES used diverted receipts for their own personal expenditures, then failed to include those diverted proceeds as income on their respective federal income tax returns. In total, PAUL T. WALSH, SR. failed to report over $500,000 in income for tax years 2002 through 2005, with a total tax avoided of $56,522. JOSEPH G. WALSH failed to report over $700,000 on his tax returns for the same years, with a total tax avoided of $156,677.
Judge Zobel scheduled sentencing for June 2, 2010. Each defendant faces up to five years imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine on the conspiracy charge, and three years imprisonment, to be followed by one year of supervised release and a $100,000 fine.
The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. Balthazard of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit.
