Clinton County Nurse Anesthetist Admits Tax Evasion
Stephen R. Wigginton, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced
today that on Friday, June 22, 2012, Dale Terry Hedberg, 69, of Breese, Illinois, plead guilty to four
counts of Attempting to Evade and Defeat Tax and four counts of Willful Failure to File a Tax
Return in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.
Hedberg admitted that he willfully failed to file income tax returns and attempted to evade
the assessment and payment of significant federal income taxes from 2004, through 2007. Records
showed that Hedberg had earned hundreds of thousands of dollars each year while working as a
nurse anesthetist on a contract basis at a variety of medical facilities. Hedberg admitted that, in spite
of this substantial income, he maintained low bank balances and extensively used cash and postal
money orders to avoid IRS levies and seizures. Hedberg also admitted that he filed requests for
extensions of the time to file an income tax return in each year in which he falsely estimated his tax
liability to be zero.
Hedberg previously had been incarcerated by the State of Illinois in 1999 for willfully failing
to file state income tax returns.
“Tax cheaters hurt and insult every citizen of Southern Illinois who pays his or her legitimate
fair share of taxes,” said United States Attorney Wigginton. “No person is above the law, thus I will
continue my efforts to see that persons who defraud the United States of America, and all of us, are
made to face justice.”
At his sentencing hearing, set for Friday, October 12, 2012, in East St. Louis, Hedberg faces on each count of Attempt to Evade and Defeat Tax up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, up to three years of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment. On each count of Willful Failure to File a Tax Return, Hedberg faces up to one year in prison, a fine of up to $25,000, up to one year of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment.
This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, and prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Katherine L. Lewis, with the assistance of Assistant United States Attorney Michael J. Quinley.
