COUNTYWIDE : 3 Men Sentenced in Income Tax Fraud

Three Ventura County men were sentenced Monday to serve time in prison and to each pay $5,050 in fines for their roles in a scheme to defraud the government of nearly $800,000 in income taxes.

U. S. District Judge Richard A. Gadbois Jr. ordered Trevor Phillips, 53, of Thousand Oaks to serve 19 months in prison; Zola Lefcourt, 69, of Ventura to serve 17 months, and Louis Garcia, 45, of Moorpark to serve 15 months.

Each pleaded guilty March 23 to one conspiracy charge.

The men will be on probation for three years after their release and must also pay all back taxes owed to the government, Gadbois ruled.

Instead of reporting all income to their Camarillo company, National Diversified Sales Inc., the three illegally diverted money for their personal use, federal prosecutors said.

The men drew up false invoices for fictitious materials and services, prosecutors said. Then company checks were written to pay the “vendors” and ended up in the pockets of the three men, prosecutors said.

Phillips, Lefcourt and Garcia used the money to pay for furnishings, jewelry, boats, automobiles and real estate in Thousand Oaks and Palm Springs, officials said.

National Diversified Sales is at 3001 Mission Oaks Blvd., Camarillo. The company manufactures and sells plastic pipe and fittings and had sales of $5.7 million in 1991, according to Dun & Bradstreet, the financial reporting service.

Gadbois ordered the three men to report to prison June 22.