Tax Evader Given 2 Years, Fine

An El Toro man was sentenced to 2 years in prison and fined $100,000 for tax evasion in a plot to remove money for his own use from his circuit companies in Orange and Venice.

Huey P. Savage, 50, of El Toro pleaded guilty to two charges of tax evasion in exchange for the government’s dropping two counts of conspiracy to evade taxes, Deputy U.S. Atty. Mark J. Werksman said.

The sentence handed down this week also puts Savage on 5 years’ probation, Werksman said.

An indictment filed in April charges Savage with avoiding the payment of $485,611 in federal income taxes from 1981-83 when his income was more than $1 million during that time, Werksman said.

As the major shareholder and chief operating officer of Data Circuits Inc. of Orange and Western Circuits Inc. of Venice, Savage would issue checks to Reliable Recovery Inc. of Anaheim, which would make them out to cash and return 95% to Savage, prosecutors charged.

The Anaheim company sells gold salts, which are used in the manufacturing of circuits, Werksman said.

“Savage would claim the payments as business expenses, and it was a vehicle for him to siphon money off his company that went unreported and untaxed,” Werksman said.

Savage’s bookkeeper, Melvin C. Walter, who pleaded guilty to two counts of aiding and abetting tax evasion, and Reliable Recovery Inc. owner Lewis Thorsen, who pleaded guilty to one count of criminal tax evasion, are scheduled for sentencing Monday and Nov. 21, respectively.