TAX EVADER TO SERVE TIME

February 17, 2004

FEBRUARY 17, 2004

WILLIAM BAGHDOYAN, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL (207) 626-8512

 

Attorney General Steven Rowe announced that Frank C. Greenleaf, a retired Merchant Marine now living in Milford, Maine, was sentenced to jail last Friday for avoiding state income taxes by falsely claiming that he was a New Hampshire resident.  Greenleaf used a friend’s New Hampshire address, obtained a New Hampshire driver’s license and registered to vote in that state, even though he had never in fact lived or worked there.  He was convicted on January 27, 2004, on two counts of income tax evasion (class C) and two counts of failure to make and file Maine income tax returns (class D) following a jury-waived trial in the Penobscot County Superior Court before Justice Thomas D. Warren. 

After commenting that Greenleaf had created an “artifice” to avoid taxes, Justice Warren sentenced him to 18 months in jail with all but 90 days suspended, and two years probation.  Conditions of probation will include performance of 200 hours of community service and payment of  $26,851 in restitution.  He will also pay $2,000 in fines.  His sentence has been stayed pending appeal.

“Maine residents who commit income tax evasion are stealing from the citizens of this State,” commented Attorney General Rowe.  “My office will vigorously prosecute those individuals who lie about their residence in order to avoid paying their fair share of Maine taxes.”

The Attorney General thanked the Maine Revenue Services Criminal Investigation Unit for the investigation of this case.

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