Ex-Tax Collector Gets 5 Years in Investment Scam
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A former Orange County tax collector was sentenced Monday to five years in prison in a tax evasion and fraud case involving a gold mining investment scam.
U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon sentenced Harold Nichols, 61, after a Los Angeles jury found him guilty on July 10 of three counts of tax evasion, one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and two counts of using a false Social Security number.
Nichols and a business partner, John Fulton, 63, raised nearly $2 million between 1983 and 1985 by seeking investments for purported gold mining ventures, then pocketed some of the cash, said Assistant U.S. Atty. David Sklansky. He said Nichols kept about $470,000, using the money to buy a house in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and to support a mistress.
Fulton pleaded guilty to related charges last year and was sentenced in February to two years in prison, three years probation and a $10,000 fine.
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