Owner of Cape Cod Cleaning Service Sentenced For Filing False Tax Returns

BOSTON – A Wareham business owner was sentenced yesterday in connection with a multi-year scheme in which she under-reported her income by more than $1 million.

Deborah Osgood, 54, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper to one day in prison, six months home confinement and one year of supervised release.  Osgood was also ordered to pay more than $300,000 in restitution.  In April, Osgood pleaded guilty to making and subscribing a false tax return.

Osgood was the owner of 2 Busy 2 Clean Cleaning Service, Inc., a residential and commercial cleaning service that operated principally in Cape Cod.  Between 2009 and 2013, Osgood instructed some clients of 2 Busy 2 Clean to make checks payable to her personally, rather than to the business.  Osgood cashed those checks, but did not deposit the proceeds into the business bank account, or otherwise report them to the accountant she retained to prepare her income tax returns.  As a result, she significantly underreported the gross receipts of her business, and thus her own income, when she filed tax returns for years 2009 to 2013.  For those five tax years, Osgood did not report more than $1 million in gross receipts, and thus underpaid her federal income taxes by more than $300,000.  

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Joel P. Garland, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston, made the announcement today.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen E. Frank, Deputy Chief of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit.