FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Lauren Horwood
August 12, 2011	PHONE: (916) 554-2706
www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae	usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov
Docket #: 1:10-cr-362-LJO, 1:09-cr-464-LJO

FRESNO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that today United States District Judge Lawrence J. O'Neill sentenced Steven Charles Laubly, 62, of Clovis, to eight years in prison for tax fraud. Laubly was also ordered to pay $98,294 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

Laubly was found guilty by a jury on May 3, 2011 on one count of tax evasion and three counts of willfully failing to file a tax return. Evidence at trial showed that Laubly had not filed a tax return since 1968, despite owning a successful real estate brokerage in Clovis called Sundance Real Estate.

At sentencing, Judge O'Neill said that Laubly was a practiced con man who took advantage of every benefit under the law but was not willing to stand up and pay for those benefits. In sentencing Laubly to the statutory maximum, Judge O'Neill said that if there was ever a case that cried out for the maximum sentences established by Congress, it was this one.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, and the Department of State Diplomatic Security. Assistant United States Attorneys Mark J. McKeon and Michele Thielhorn prosecuted the case.

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