FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Lauren Horwood
July 5, 2011	PHONE: (916) 554-2706
www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae	usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov
Docket #: 1:10-cr-00193 AWI

                FRESNO, Calif.– United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced today that Walter Watts, III, age 45, of  Clovis, California was sentenced today by United States District Judge Anthony Ishii to eighteen months in prison and ordered to pay $98,486 restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.  The defendant pled guilty to tax evasion on April 4, 2011. 

                At the sentencing hearing, Judge Ishii rejected Watts’ request for a home confinement sentence, and said that although he recognized Mr. Watt’s extensive family responsibilities, his large scale tax evasion required a sentence of imprisonment.  Upon his release from prison, Watts will be on supervised release for three years and required to submit to searches of his home and other property and drug testing.  Court documents also indicate that Watts did not contest the government’s seizure and forfeiture of a $70,000 motorboat he allegedly purchased in 2007.

                This case is the product of an extensive/joint investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, and Drug Enforcement Administration, assisted by Fresno County Sheriff’s Office and California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement.  The case was charged  as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force program, and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kevin Rooney.

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