LAS VEGAS - - A Las Vegas man has admitted that he was part of a conspiracy to cheat the IRS out of thousands of dollars of federal income taxes through the receipt of cash wages, announced Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada.

GEORGE RODRIGUEZ, of Las Vegas, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge James C. Mahan to one count of Attempt to Evade or Defeat Tax, a felony offense. He is scheduled to be sentenced on October 14, 2005, at 9:00 a.m. and faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

RODRIGUEZ was one of 25 defendants charged in April 2005 with various counts of conspiracy and attempting to evade or defeat taxes. According to the plea memorandum, RODRIGUEZ admitted that from at least 1998 to June 2005, he worked as a general superintendent for co-defendant Robert David Kahre’s company, Wright Painting and Drywall. Kahre owns and operates several different businesses in Las Vegas, including painting, drywall and tile companies, and was charged in two separate criminal indictments with 20 counts of Willful Failure to Collect or Pay Over Tax, two counts of tax evasion, and two counts of Conspiracy to Attempt to Evade or Defeat Tax. Twenty-four other individuals, including Kahre’s girlfriend, mother, sister, brother, and numerous employees were charged with various counts of Conspiracy and Attempt to Evade or Defeat Tax. From 1998 through 2003, Kahre allegedly paid his employees in the form of gold, silver, and/or cash and made no federal tax withholdings from the paychecks. During the course of the conspiracy, it is alleged that Kahre paid over $114 million in unreported cash wages to employees.

According to the Plea Memorandum, RODRIGUEZ admitted that he entered into an agreement with Robert Kahre in 1998 to receive his wages in the form of cash. RODRIGUEZ agreed that no tax forms would be filed with the IRS, in order to conceal the source and amount of his cash wages. RODRIGUEZ has claimed previously that he boycotts the Federal Reserve system and has criticized the monetary, taxing and fiscal policies of the United States Government. RODRIGUEZ admitted he was paid $224,934 in cash wages from 1998 through 2003, which were mostly unreported. He admitted that he failed to file a federal income tax return altogether for the years 1999 through 2002. The amount of tax, excluding interest and penalties, that RODRIGUEZ owed for those years is approximately $28,000.

The other 24 defendants charged in the conspiracy are awaiting trial.

The case is being investigated by Special Agents with IRS Criminal Investigation, and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney J. Gregory Damm.

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