North Dartmouth Man Pleads Guilty To Tax Fraud

BOSTON - A North Dartmouth male pleaded guilty yesterday to filing a false tax return in 2007 that grossly under-reported his income.

Gerald Sicard, 57, pleaded guilty to filing a materially false tax return. In January 2014, Sicard was charged by information as part of an agreement to plead guilty. Sentencing is scheduled for May 15, 2014.

According to the Information, in 2007, Sicard, a self-employed building contractor, intentionally under-reported his business income to his tax preparer, who then prepared Sicard's 2007 personal tax return in reliance on the false numbers. Sicard's actual gross income for 2007 was approximately $488,112, but he reported only $174,310 of gross income to his tax preparer, which was the amount the tax preparer entered on Sicard’s return. Sicard then verified his tax return as accurate and authorized the tax preparer to file it with the IRS on Sicard's behalf. Sicard's misrepresentations deprived the U.S. Treasury of about $111,969 in tax revenue for 2007.

The charge to which Sicard pleaded guilty carries a maximum sentence of three years of in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $100,000. Sicard may also be required to pay the costs of prosecution. By agreement, Sicard and the U.S. Attorney’s Office will recommend that Sicard serve a period of home confinement instead of incarceration.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston, made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Andrew E. Lelling of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit.