January 16, 2004

PRESS RELEASE

PLYMOUTH MAN SENTENCED FOR FILING FALSE TAX RETURNS

Boston, MA... A Plymouth man was sentenced today in federal court for filing false tax returns and thereby avoiding the payment of over $360,000 in federal taxes.

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan; Joseph A. Galasso, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation; and Colonel Thomas J. Foley, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, announced today that DONALD A. WILLIS, age 68, of 18 Cliffside Drive, Plymouth, Massachusetts, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner to 2 years' probation, the first 6 months of which are to be served in home confinement with electronic monitoring. WILLIS was also ordered as a condition of probation to pay $362, 398 to the Internal Revenue Service. The Court imposed the sentence over the objections of the Government, downwardly departing from a Sentencing Guideline range of 21 to 27 months' imprisonment to the term of probation. WILLIS pleaded guilty on July 25, 2003, to four counts of filing false tax returns.

At the earlier plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that, had the case proceeded to trial, the Government's evidence would have proven that WILLIS was the primary operator of an illegal gambling business with a main office located in Waltham, Massachusetts. WILLIS routinely submitted federal tax returns which substantially understated his actual income by failing to include his income from the illegal gambling business. In his 1996 federal income tax return, WILLIS reported total income of $63,800 when in fact his income was at least $130,709. Likewise in his 1997 federal income tax return, WILLIS reported total income of $58,408 when in fact his income was at least $152,599; in his 1998 federal income tax return WILLIS reported total income of $63, 943 when in fact his total income was at least $378,491; and in his 1999 federal income tax return, WILLIS reported total income of $145,057 when in fact his total income was at least $624,593.

The case was referred to the U.S. Attorney's Office by the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office and investigated by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation and the Massachusetts State Police. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. Balthazard in Sullivan's Economic Crimes Unit.

Press Contact: Samantha Martin, (617) 748-3139