New Hampshire Man Sentenced to Prison for Facilitating Employment Tax Fraud

A New Hampshire man was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for employment tax fraud.

According to court documents, Walter Rodriguez, of Manchester, aided and abetted several drywall companies that were evading the payment of employment taxes from 2011 to 2013. Rodriguez found workers for the companies for construction jobs. The companies then issued checks in the names of fictitious or fraudulent identities and provided those checks to Rodriguez, who converted the checks to cash at local check-cashing businesses and paid the workers off-the-books. In total, Rodriguez enabled the payment of $1.7 million in unreported wages, causing a tax loss of $416,000.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Steven J. McAuliffe ordered Rodriguez to serve one year of supervised release and to pay approximately $416,163 in restitution to the United States.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department's Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney John J. Farley for the District of New Hampshire made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Brittney Campbell of the Justice Department's Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth Aframe of the District of New Hampshire prosecuted the case.