DC-Area Plumber Charged with Obstructing the IRS

WASHINGTON - Richard Jaensch, a resident of Annandale, Va., has been indicted by a Alexandria, Va., federal grand jury with one count of corruptly endeavoring to impede the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), one count of filing a false claim for a refund and four counts of failing to file a tax return for 2004 through 2007, the Justice Department and the IRS announced today.

According to the indictment, Richard Jaensch, a self-employed plumber, failed to file personal income tax returns between 2001 and 2007, despite the fact that he was required to do so by law. Between 2002 and October 2009, Jaensch 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” (sic) and that she was not a taxpayer; providing false information to the IRS; and filing with the IRS a false 2008 federal income tax return, Form 1040.

In addition, Jaensch caused his wife to yearly present a letter 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. In addition, in April 2009, Jaensch electronically filed with the IRS a false 2008 individual income tax return claiming a tax refund of $774,052, which he knew to be false and fraudulent.

An indictment is merely a formal charge by the grand jury. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in U.S. District Court. If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum potential sentence of 12 years in prison. The court has not yet set a trial date.

This case was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation and is being prosecuted by Department of Justice’s Tax Division Trial Attorney Caryn Finley and Assistant U.S. Attorney Gene Rossi.

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