Richard Vance Cunningham was charged with 11 counts of using fictitious obligations and six counts of making false statements to the Internal Revenue Service.

According to the indictment, from March 1999 through July 1999 Cunningham wrote four bogus sight drafts to Dakota County Human Services as payment for his child support obligations.  Cunningham also allegedly wrote fake sight drafts to a Paynesville, MN car dealership, to the Internal Revenue Service, and to the Minnesota Department of Revenue.

The grand jury also charged Cunningham with filing false Forms 8300 with the IRS, indicating various entities and individuals paid or received large amounts of cash or money orders which they in fact did not receive or pay, in an effort to harass, intimidate, and create legal problems for those individuals.  The false Forms 8300 were allegedly sent after entities and individuals would not accept the bogus sight drafts.

If convicted, Cunningham faces a maximum potential penalty of 25 years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine on each of the 11 counts of using fictitious obligations and up to three years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine on each of the six counts of making false statements.  Any sentence would be determined by a judge based on the federal sentencing guidelines.

The case is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mike Cheever.

Criminal indictments are only charges and not evidence of guilt.  A defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.