Press Release - 15 FEB 2002

February 15, 2002

United States Attorney John L. Brownlee announced today that WILLIAM J. STREETT, 57, of New Market, pleaded guilty in United States District Court in Abingdon, to one count of making and filing a false income tax return for 1992.

According to court records and information provided to the court at the guilty plea hearing, STREETT, a veterinarian and the proprietor of New Market Veterinary Clinic, signed and filed tax returns for 1992-94 that failed to report income from the sale of cattle and, in 1993-94, failed to report cash receipts of his veterinary clinic that had been deposited to a separate savings account. In addition, STREETT claimed purchases of investment gemstones as veterinary expenses and prepared records to make gemstone purchases appear to be purchases of veterinary equipment.

A November 2000 trial against STREETT and his wife, Sharon L. Streett, and their CPA, James G. Sprinkel, for conspiracy to defraud the IRS and filing false income tax returns ended in a hung jury. STREETT's guilty plea today will avoid a retrial of the earlier case which had been scheduled to begin in Harrisonburg on February 19. Sharon L. Streett pleaded guilty in November 2000, prior to the start of the earlier trial, to three counts of filing false income tax returns for 1992-94. Sprinkel pleaded guilty yesterday in Federal Court in Abingdon to one count of making a false statement to the IRS by providing a fraudulently altered document to an IRS Revenue Agent during an audit to conceal additional income and taxes owed by the Streetts.

Dr. and Mrs. STREET are scheduled to be sentenced June 3. Sprinkel's sentencing is scheduled for May 3.

The investigation of the case was conducted by the Roanoke office of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division. Assistant United States Attorney Rick Mountcastle and Department of Justice, Tax Division, attorney Gregory Tortella were the prosecutors.