Carbondale Man Charged With Tax Evasion

SCRANTON - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a Criminal Information was filed today  in U.S. District Court in Scranton charging a Carbondale man with tax evasion.

According to United States Attorney Peter Smith, in 2010 and 2011, Thomas Rice, age 64, of Carbondale, made false statements to the Internal Revenue Service to conceal his mother’s assets by deliberating underreporting his mother’s retirement account balance and inflating her expenses in an attempt to evade federal income taxes due for the years 2004 through 2008.  At the time, Mr. Rice was acting under a power of attorney for his mother.  Rather than reporting his mother’s assets in the retirement account accurately, Mr. Rice was using funds from that account to pay his own personal expenses instead of her outstanding tax balances.

The government also filed a plea agreement with the defendant which is subject to the approval of the court.

The charges stem from an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Evan Gotlob.

Indictments and Criminal Informations are only allegations. All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.

A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

The maximum penalty under federal law is 5 years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a maximum fine of $250,000. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature, circumstances and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant's educational, vocational and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant.

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