ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Richard Jaensch, 54, of Annandale, Va., was sentenced today to 36 months in prison by United States District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee.  Jaensch was convicted on Dec. 7, 2011, by a federal jury sitting in Alexandria, Va., of corruptly endeavoring to impede the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), filing a false claim for a refund, and four counts of failing to file tax returns for 2004 through 2007.

            According to evidence introduced at trial, Jaensch, a self-employed plumber, failed to file personal income tax returns for many years, beginning in 2002, despite the fact that he was required to do so by law because of income he made from his business and from stock trading.  The first tax return he filed after 2002 was a false 2008 tax return claiming a $774,052 refund based on false Forms 1099-OID that the defendant submitted to the IRS.  Over the years, Jaensch also obstructed and impeded the IRS by, among other acts: filing numerous documents and pleadings in Fairfax County, Va., claiming that he and his wife, a federal employee, were not persons required to file federal income tax returns; that his wife was not a party to the Constitution of the “united States of America” and that she was not a taxpayer; and providing false information to the IRS.  In addition, Jaensch caused his wife to present letters to her employer directing them to stop withholding federal income taxes from her salary. The IRS began levying his wife’s paycheck and bank accounts to satisfy her outstanding tax liability, and Jaensch continued his obstructive conduct by filing or causing his wife to file correspondence with the IRS claiming that the IRS could not instruct her employer to withhold taxes from her paycheck. 

            His wife, Janet Jaensch, was a former high-level civilian employee in the Department of the Navy during the time that she was not filing tax returns at Richard Jaensch’s direction.  She pleaded guilty to willfully failing to file a tax return and was sentenced on Dec. 13, 2011, to three years’ probation and order to pay over $137,000 in restitution to the IRS. 

            This case was investigated by Special Agents of the IRS - Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Jason Poole and Caryn Finley of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Assistant United States Attorney Gene Rossi.

            More information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division and its enforcement efforts is available at www.usdoj.gov/tax/.

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.

 

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