Kearney Psychiatrist Sentenced for Failure to Pay Taxes

United States Attorney Deborah A. Gilg announced that a Kearney, Nebraska, psychiatrist was sentenced Wednesday, January 20, 2016, to serve five years of probation for failing to pay over more than $131,000 in federal payroll taxes.  In addition, Dr. Reynaldo De Los Angeles, age 70, was ordered to provide free psychiatric services to residents of Buffalo County for one day per month for the term of his probation.  Senior United States District Judge Richard G. Kopf sentenced Dr. De Los Angeles in Lincoln, Nebraska.

According to court documents, Dr. De Los Angeles was indicted in December 2014, and charged with nine counts of failure to pay over Social Security, Medicare and federal income taxes withheld from employees of his Kearney and Grand Island mental health clinics between 2008 and 2012.  The indictment alleged Dr. De Los Angeles, as president of his company and the individual responsible for the corporate financial business affairs, withheld $131,775.28 from the employees’ paychecks but failed to pay the payroll taxes to the Internal Revenue Service as required.  Dr. De Los Angeles pled guilty on October 22, 2015.  Dr. De Los Angeles will be required to spend eight weekends in the  Dawson County jail. Judge Kopf cited Dr. De Los Angeles’s age and health as partial reasons for sentencing him to probation.

Dr. De Los Angeles is also required to pay $131,775.28 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service, provide access to his financial records to his probation officer to assess his ongoing ability to pay restitution and to monitor his lifestyle, and successfully complete a cognitive-behavioral based program to assist him continue to be a productive citizen.  

“Business owners have a responsibility to withhold income taxes for their employees and remit those taxes to the Internal Revenue Service,” said Karl Stiften, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation.  “Employment tax fraud impacts employees, who may see future benefits such as Social Security or Medicare reduced or eliminated because their employers failed to comply with the law.”

This case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation.