News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 5, 2009
In matters prosecuted by the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of West Virginia:
WOOD COUNTY ATTORNEY PLEADS GUILTY TO TAX FRAUD
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Richard A. Hayhurst, 60, pled guilty today before United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnston to tax fraud, following a federal investigation revealing he failed to pay over $405,000 in taxes to the Internal Revenue Service.
According to court documents, Hayhurst, a civil attorney in Parkersburg, West Virginia, withheld federal income and FICA taxes from his four employees' paychecks (the "trust fund taxes") in the amount of $8,792.53 for the fourth quarter of 2003. Hayhurst was obligated to pay these funds to the Internal Revenue Service on his employees' behalf. The investigation revealed that Hayhurst filed IRS Form 941 for the same quarter reflecting that he affirmatively withheld and collected the trust fund taxes, but he nonetheless failed to pay over those trust fund taxes as reflected on the Form 941.
Furthermore, Hayhurst failed to pay over additional quarterly trust fund taxes totalling $216,767 on behalf of his employees from the first quarter of 2000 through the third quarter of 2006. Hayhurst also failed to pay $44,557, the employer portion of his employees' Social Security and Medicare taxes from the second quarter of 2003 through the third quarter of 2006. Finally, Hayhurst failed to pay his own personal income taxes of $134,965 for the years 2003, 2004, and 2005.
Hayhurst, who is scheduled to be sentenced on March 16, 2009, faces up to five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. The Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Thomas C. Ryan is handling the prosecution.
PUTNAM COUNTY MAN SENTENCED TO PRISON
Also in Charleston, Joshua David Houdersheldt, 26, of Putnam County, West Virginia, was sentenced today by Chief United States District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin to 70 months in prison for conspiring to fraudulently acquire and obtain oxycodone, and for attempting to acquire and obtain the drug. Houdersheldt previously pled guilty to the federal drug charges in July 2009.
According to court documents, in February 2009, Houdersheldt conspired with others to fraudulently obtain 90 oxycodone tablets. Houdersheldt forged a prescription for 90 tablets of Roxicodone using his father's prescription pad. Houdersheldt's father, a physician, did not authorize the prescription. Houdersheldt then drove two co-conspirators to a pharmacy to submit the fraudulent prescription. The co-conspirators provided the oxycodone to Houdersheldt in exchange for $50. Also according to court documents, the trio attempted to fill another forged prescription for 90 tablets of Roxicodone on March 26, 2009.
The federal investigation revealed that Houdersheldt engaged in a series of similar transactions with at least five co-conspirators from 2008 until his arrest on March 26, 2009. As part of his plea agreement, Houdersheldt stipulated he personally used approximately 81,900 milligrams of fraudulently obtained oxycodone, and he distributed approximately 10,500 milligrams to others.
The West Virginia State Police, Bureau of Criminal Investigations conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Monica K. Schwartz handled the prosecution.