BUFFALO, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Ronald Wieczorek, 57, of Lancaster, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder to tax evasion. The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell T. Ippolito, who is handling the case, stated that between Jan. 1, 2000, and April 15, 2013, the defendant attempted to evade paying individual federal income taxes for the calendar years 2000 through 2009.
During the above time-period, the defendant took a number of steps to hide his income and assets from the IRS in order to prevent the IRS from collecting on taxes that he owed. For example, on May 27, 2009, Wieczorek dissolved his own business and created two new businesses, RMS Blacktop and RMS Hauling, in the name of another individual, in order to conceal his assets.
The defendant also used business receipts and money from these business accounts to pay personal expenses, including the payment of personal credit card expenses. In order to do so, Wieczorek forged the name of a person with signatory authority on the business account checks.
The defendant made numerous other attempts to conceal his assets from the IRS including, on three occasions, filing false statements with the IRS indicating that he could not afford to pay the taxes he owed. The tax loss to the IRS totaled $962,488.98.
Today’s plea is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge James D. Robnett.
Sentencing will be scheduled at a later date.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
