Bluefield Woman Guilty Following Three-Day Jury Trial

Abingdon, VIRGINIA – Following a three-day jury trial in U.S. District Court in Abingdon, the former executive vice president of J&R Manufacturing in Bluefield, Virginia, was convicted of tax charges, wire fraud, and making false statements, United States Attorney Thomas T. Cullen made the announcement today.

Teresa Barringer, 58, of Bluefield, Va., was convicted last week on three counts of willfully failing to pay over payroll taxes, two counts of wire fraud, and three counts of making false statements to a federal law enforcement officer.

“Payroll-tax schemes and other forms of workplace fraud are serious federal crimes and ones that the Department of Justice and the IRS take very seriously,” U.S. Attorney Cullen stated today.  “I appreciate the hard work of the FBI and IRS agents in uncovering the defendant’s criminal conduct and bringing her to justice.”

According to evidence presented at trial, Barringer failed to pay more than $175,000 in payroll taxes withheld from employees. She also fraudulently prematurely obtained over $360,000 from her 401K plan by falsely claiming that she needed the money to avoid foreclosure and falsely representing her last day of employment. Barringer also lied to federal agents when questioned about her employment and the 401K withdrawals.   

The investigation of the case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Virginia State Police. Assistant United States Attorneys S. Cagle Juhan and Randy Ramseyer prosecuted the case for the United States.