DAYTON - Michael D. Clear, age 60, of Springfield, Ohio, pled guilty in United States District Court here to a one-count indictment charging him with tax evasion for the year 1996.

Gregory G. Lockhart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and Cromwell A. Handy, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation, announced the plea entered yesterday before Chief United States District Judge Walter Herbert Rice.

Clear admitted that he attempted to evade his taxes by failing to file a tax return and by concealing and attempting to conceal his true income of over $160,000 for the year 1996 from the Internal Revenue Service. His attempted evasion involved an extensive use of cash and cashiers checks, and the use of family members to cash the cashiers checks. Clear admitted that he did not maintain a personal bank account in an effort to conceal his income from the IRS. He used both his brother and his daughter to cash cashiers checks on his behalf, and deposited much of the $160,000 he earned in 1996 in a warehouse bank in Oregon. Clear knew that the warehouse bank, operated by the Christian Patriot Association/Natural Coin Exchange (CPA/NCE), was operated in such a manner so as to conceal the identity of the account holders and the amounts of their deposits from the IRS. Clear admitted that after he deposited his funds into the CPA/NCE bank, he had the operators of the bank mail him large amounts of cash on at least two occasions, and mail him cashiers checks in large amounts on at least four occasions.

Clear's accountant, J. Gary Jones, of Asheville, North Carolina, earlier pleaded guilty to one felony count of making a false statement to the grand jury in connection with this investigation, and is due to be sentenced on August 8, 2003.

The tax evasion count to which Clear pleaded guilty carries a maximum penalty of five years of imprisonment, and a $250,000 fine. Judge Rice will set a date for sentencing.

Further questions may be directed to trial attorney Rich Rolwing of the U.S. Department of Justice, Tax Division, Washington, D.C., at (202) 514-5150.