Owner of Manassas Business Pleads Guilty to $1.1 Million Tax Fraud
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Willard Douglas Kerr, 43, of Phoenix, Ariz., pled guilty today to failing to pay over more than $1.1 million in taxes that he collected or was required to pay on behalf of his employees at his Manassas, Va.-based painting and wall covering company.
Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Eric C. Hylton, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation’s Washington, D.C., Field Office, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by United States District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee.
Kerr faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison when he is sentenced on June 29, 2012, before United States District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema.
According to the statement of facts filed with his plea agreement, from 2003 through 2009, Kerr operated DK Coatings LLC, a painting and wall covering company in Manassas, Va. He was responsible for collecting, accounting for, and paying over employment taxes on behalf of DK Coatings employees to the Internal Revenue Service.
From at least September 30, 2004, through December 31, 2009, Kerr withheld trust fund taxes from his employees’ paychecks but did not pay over those taxes to the IRS as required by law. From 2003 through 2009, Kerr also failed to pay the employer matching portion of FICA taxes. The total tax loss to the IRS is approximately $1,111,352.
Kerr admitted that he spent the money he withheld from his employees’ paychecks on other aspects of the business and on personal expenses.
This case was investigated by Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation’s Washington, D.C., Field Office. Assistant United States Attorney Timothy D. Belevetz is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.
