Mechanicsburg Man Pleads Guilty To Tax Evasion

HARRISBURG- The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Rick Goodling, age 69, of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, plead guilty before United States District Judge Jennifer P. Wilson, to tax evasion.

According to United States Attorney Brian D. Miller, Goodling admitted to underreporting his taxable income in Tax Years 2019-2022. Goodling began working as a compliance officer with Pace-O-Matic, a Georgia-based “skill machine” company, as a compliance officer in 2018.  As part of his guilty plea, Goodling admitted that while working as a supervisory compliance officer, he received cash payments from skill machine operators throughout Pennsylvania in return for allowing those operators to improperly continue to use Pace-O-Matic products against the company’s rules and regulations. Goodling and others then formed consulting businesses to falsely claim these cash payments were business travel expenses, thereby underreporting his taxable income in the years 2019-2022.  Overall, Goodling’s actions led to a tax loss of over $100,000 to the United States. 

“Conspiring to defraud the government with an elaborate scheme to underreport taxable income is unlawful,” stated Yury Kruty, Special Agent in Charge, IRS-Criminal Investigation, Philadelphia Field Office.

“Today's plea serves as yet another reminder of the consequences which come to those who commit acts of fraud against the United States," said Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Philadelphia. "Our mission remains clear: together with our law enforcement partners, the FBI will relentlessly pursue fraud at every level - aggressively investigating, dismantling criminal schemes, and pursuing those responsible."

The case was investigated by the Income Revenue Service (IRS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Pennsylvania State Police.  Assistant U.S. Attorney James M. Buchanan is prosecuting the case.

The maximum penalty under federal law for this offense is five years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. 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.

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