Rockford man gets 29 months in prison for tax scam

By Alex Gary

BusinessRockford.com

A 57-year-old Rockford man was sentenced to 29 months in federal prison without parole and ordered to pay $100,266 in restitution to the United State Department of Treasury for filing false federal income tax returns.

Jerry Johnson started a tax preparation service called “Jerry’s Services” in 2001 and admitted that from 2001 through December 2005, he filed nearly 60 false and fraudulent tax returns for clients.

He routinely prepared two sets of returns for his clients, he told investigators. He would file the return with the greater refund with the IRS — using incorrect filing statuses or without all of his clients’ income — while giving the returns with the lesser refunds to his clients. Johnson then directed the higher refunds into his accounts and issued checks to his clients for the lower amounts.

Johnson was charged in March 2007 with falsifying 20 tax returns in 2003 and 2004. He pleaded guilty in January, admitting 39 more falsified returns beginning in 2001 and going through December 2005.

He was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Frederick J. Kapala.

Assistant Business Editor Alex Gary may be reached at agary@rrstar.com or at 815-987-1339.