Deerfield Man Sentenced for Tax Evasion & Gun Crime

MADISON, WIS. – Jeffrey M. Anderson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced today that Shawn Bierd, 48, Deerfield, Wis., was sentenced on October 20, 2017, by U.S. District Judge William Conley to 23 months in prison for tax evasion and possession of a firearm as a convicted felon. 

Bierd owned and operated Advance Auto Body in Madison, Wis.  Bierd failed to file his employment tax returns, or pay his employment taxes for his business, for the years 2003 through 2012.  In July 2007, the IRS started collection activity against Bierd, which included bank levies, liens on his home, and an attempt to seize a business pickup truck. 

Bierd attempted to evade the payment and collection of the employment taxes by moving his assets into the names of nominees, including his mother.  He also sent frivolous correspondence to the IRS claiming he was exempt from taxation and demanded that the IRS pay him $10,000,000 for damages due to the IRS’s collection actions.

On August 2, 2016, after having been previously convicted of a felony offense, Bierd possessed a 9mm Beretta and a .45 caliber Thompson submachine gun.

At the sentencing hearing, Bierd admitted that he evaded $178,423.68 in employment taxes based on his beliefs that the tax laws were not legal.  Judge Conley explained to Bierd his views of the tax laws were incorrect, and that Bierd had to now face the consequences of his decision not to pay his taxes. 

The charges against Bierd are the result of an investigation conducted by the Madison office of IRS Criminal Investigation. The prosecution of this case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Graber.