Taxable Talk

If you're sentenced to 25 years in prison for murder, what's a little tax fraud? Indeed, there have been many reports that prisoners with lots of time on their hands have been trying to defraud the IRS and state tax agencies. Every so often, the IRS catches them.

In this case, an Akron, Ohio man serving 25 years in the Mansfield Correctional Institution, where the goal is "to provide offenders of felony convictions within the State of Ohio a safe, efficient, humane and appropriately secure correctional institution," found what he thought was a safe, humane way to make a little bit of money. According to this AP story, Michael Murdock used the names and social security numbers of other inmates to send in phony tax returns to the IRS. With the help of an accomplice, the returns were mailed in, and he received $5,277 before the IRS caught on.

The story notes that Mr. Murdock has been transferred to the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville. He's up for a parole hearing soon. I have a feeling his extracurricular activities may come up. No matter what, he'll have 22 months to think about what he did when he's done serving his murder conviction. And he's been ordered to pay back the $5277 to the IRS.

In other miscreant news, a Charlotte doctor forgot about filing his tax return. He pleaded guilty in May and will serve 12 months at ClubFed and will be on parole after his jail time and must also make restitution.

And closer to home, Trina Thi Jesson, of nearby Fountain Valley, pleaded guilty to three counts of misdemeanor tax fraud, and agreed to make restitution. These were state (California) charges, and Mrs. Jesson agreed to payback to the Franchise Tax Board her share of the $437,000 that's owed. As we reported earlier, her husband George "Nick" Jesson is serving concurrent federal and state charges for tax evasion. It's all in the family, I guess.

That's the number of days in jail that Sunny Garcia will be facing. Mr. Garcia, the former surfing champion who was convicted of tax evasion for not paying $117,000 in taxes from 1996-2001, will report to prison in January. He'll also face seven months of house arrest and will need to perform 80 hours of community service when released.

Mr. Garcia, who already works with the Huntington Beach (CA) High School surf team, plan on working with disadvantaged youths, according to his attorney, Steve Toscher. As Mr. Toscher told the Daily Pilot, "He basically made some serious mistakes and didn't focus on his tax affairs."

I wish I knew the answer—I could write a book on it! Perhaps it's the cash income. Maybe it's the borderline pornography. In any case, yet another strip club owner had his day in court.

James Andrew Yaeger, of Columbia, Missouri, owned two strip clubs: "Club Vogue" and "Show Girls." Today he pleaded guilty to underreporting his income from 1999 through 2001 from his clubs.

How did this cheating occur? Well, when the dancers were paid for their lap dances (in cash, of course), the cash was stuffed in envelopes behind the bar. Unfortunately for Mr. Yeager, someone tipped off state and federal authorities, and Mr. Yeager's clubs were raided.

It's unclear from this article whether or not Mr. Yeager faces further court proceedings. But Mr. Yeager is looking at up to 15 years in ClubFed, a fine of up to $750,000, and will likely have to make restitution. And I'm sure the Missouri state authorities are just waiting for their turn.