United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

1100 Commerce St., 3rd Fl.
Dallas, Texas 75242-1699

Telephone (214) 659-8600
Fax (214) 767-0978

Rockwall Residents Sentenced to Federal Prison

United States Attorney Richard H. Stephens announced that Oscar (Bud) Luther Rager and Monica Ticer Peters, both of Rockwall, Texas, were each sentenced yesterday by the Honorable United States District Judge Sam A. Lindsay to 21 months imprisonment and ordered to each pay $244,155.41 in restitution as a result of their conviction on tax evasion charges. In July 2001, Rager, age 47, and Peters, age 36, were convicted by a federal jury of tax evasion and conspiracy in connection with their failure to pay $105,291.21 in owed payroll taxes to the Internal Revenue Service.

During the two-week long jury trial in July, the government proved that Rager and Peters, who owned a cast stone business named Monicast Stone, L.C. in Rockwall, Texas, failed to pay $105,291.21 in owed payroll taxes to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for 1994, 1995 and 1996 and engaged in affirmative acts of tax evasion. At trial, the government further proved that Rager and Peters fraudulently transferred certain assets of Monicast in a sham transaction, while continuing to carry on business operations under a different name and diverting funds for their own personal use. At the sentencing hearing, Judge Lindsay found that Rager and Peters also caused a tax loss of $138,863.20, relating to Stone Designs, the company created in connection with the sham transaction.

United States Attorney Stephens praised the exemplary investigative work of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, (IRS-CI), Dallas, Texas as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Lynn Hastings and John Helms prosecuted the case.

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