NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

MATT J. WHITWORTH

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

APRIL 27, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OZARK BUSINESS OWNER SENTENCED FOR

$1 MILLION TAX EVASION

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Matt J. Whitworth, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that the owner of an Ozark, Mo., business that manufactures welded steel trailers was sentenced in federal court today for tax evasion.

Kyle Jon Thompson, 47, of Ozark, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard E. Dorr this morning to two years and six months in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Thompson to pay $1,073,959 in restitution to the government.

Thompson, the owner of Branson Trailer Manufacturing in Ozark, pleaded guilty to tax evasion on Nov. 18, 2008. Thompson admitted that he received income of approximately $2.8 million in 2006, failed to file an income tax return and failed to pay the personal income tax owed for that year. Thompson also admitted that he did not file federal income tax returns for his company or for himself from 1997 through 2006. After entering his guilty plea, Thompson filed personal returns recognizing a tax due of $1,073,959.

Branson Trailer produced approximately 3,000 trailers in 2006, with estimated gross receipts of $6.9 million. After allowing for expenses, the gross profit for 2006 was approximately $2.8 million. From 2003 to 2005, Branson Trailer produced a total of approximately 6,500 trailers, with estimated gross receipts totaling nearly $15 million.

Thompson attempted to conceal his income by paying his employees in cash (without withholding any required taxes, issuing any IRS Forms W-2 or 1099, or paying any withholdings to the government), by purchasing real estate and other property with cash, and by concealing his ownership interest in vehicles (including four limousines, three Corvettes, a Hummer, two Cadillac Escalades, a Lincoln Navigator, a Dodge Ram 2500 pickup truck, a Ford F250 pick-up truck, a Jaguar, a Ford Mustang GT, a Ford Thunderbird and a Ford Model-T) by not registering those vehicles with the county assessor’s office. Thompson also structured cash bank deposits to avoid currency transaction reporting requirements.

Thompson also admitted that in 2004 he purchased a 2004 Keystone Everest travel trailer, which he knew or should have known had been stolen. Thompson paid $10,000 and traded eight or nine manufactured trailers for the travel trailer, which had a retail value of $51,000.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Mohlhenrich. It was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Missouri State Water Patrol.

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