Placerville Business Owner Sentenced For Filing False Tax Returns

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — United States District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. sentenced Thomas W. Stringfellow, 55, of Placerville, today to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay $687,182 in restitution for willfully making false tax returns, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

According to court documents, from 2006 through 2010, Stringfellow underreported his business income on tax returns by more than $1.1 million, and underreported his personal income on tax returns by more than $1 million. Stringfellow owned New Horizon Painting, and rather than depositing all of the business checks into the appropriate accounts, he cashed some of the checks and did not report those amounts as income. In total, Stringfellow’s underreporting of his business income and his personal income led to a tax loss of more than $687,000.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Jean M. Hobler prosecuted the case.