Judge Sentences Sharon Tax Evader To Five Years Probation With 14 Months Confinement

PITTSBURGH - A resident of Sharon, Pa., has been sentenced in federal court to 60 months probation, including 7 months confinement at Renewal, Inc., followed by 7 months home confinement, a $5,000 fine and $400 special assessment on his conviction of income tax evasion, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.

United States District Judge Terrence F. McVerry imposed the sentence on Joseph E. Gump.

According to information presented to the court, Gump filed federal income tax returns for the calendar years 2003 through 2006, wherein he stated in each year that the amounts of his taxable income and tax were "none," when his form W-2 wage income in those years ranged from $59,455.49 to $84,267.70, and the tax loss to the IRS ranged from $3,900 to $13,631.

Prior to imposing sentence - in which he departed downward from the Sentencing Guidelines range due to Gump's recent stroke and affliction with two types of cancer - Judge McVerry stated that although Gump was a first offender, it was only the first time he had been caught, having "thumbed his nose" at other taxpayers and scoffed at the Tax Code for many years.

Assistant United States Attorney Leo M. Dillon prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

U.S. Attorney Hickton commended the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Gump.