HOUSTON - Married couple James R. Dixon and Sharon C. Dixon have each been convicted of committing separate tax crimes in two separately-filed, but related cases, United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson announced today along with Lucy Cruz, special agent in charge of Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation. 

Sharon C. Dixon entered her plea just a short time ago guilty before U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt, while her husband pleaded guilty Oct. 9, 2012, before U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore.

Sharon Dixon pleaded guilty to two counts of willfully failing to file her U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns for 2007 and 2008. In the plea agreement filed in the record of the case, she admitted the total relevant conduct, or tax loss, in the case for purposes of sentencing is more than $183,000. 

James Dixon was convicted of one count of tax evasion, admitting that in an attempt to evade his and his spouse's full income tax liability for 2006, he willfully failed to report additional income of approximately $255,966.36 on his joint 2006 U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.  Dixon admitted the additional income tax owed for his joint 2006 income tax year is approximately $59,379.05.  For sentencing purposes, he stipulated the total relevant conduct, tax loss in the case, exceeds $890,000. 

According to the plea agreement, the $890,000 includes the individual income taxes Dixon and his wife owe on their 2005 through 2008 income tax years plus more than $700,000 of unpaid employment taxes of a company for which James Dixon had the duty to pay over to the IRS.  Dixon further agreed to pay restitution to the IRS of more than $1.3 million.

James Dixon faces up to five years as well as a fine of twice the total tax loss at his sentencing, set for Jan. 28, 2013, at 9:30 a.m., while Sharon Dixon faces up to a year in prison on each count of conviction and a fine of twice the tax loss. Judge Hoyt has set her sentencing for Jan. 14, 2013, at 10:00 a.m. 

This matter was investigated by IRS-CI and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles J. Escher.