VENTURA : Insurance Agent Sentenced in Tax-Return Fraud
A Ventura insurance agent was ordered Monday to pay a $20,000 fine and serve eight months in prison for falsifying a tax return and then attempting to thwart an investigation by Internal Revenue Service agents.
U. S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian also ordered Thomas G. Roots to pay back taxes of $189,701, said Assistant U. S. Atty. Brent A. Whittlesey.
Roots pleaded guilty June 4 to tax evasion and obstruction of justice in connection with his failure to report income of at least $167,648 on his 1987 income tax return, Whittlesey said.
The income came from the sale of insurance policies, property rentals, capital gains from real estate sales, interest, dividends and referral fees, the prosecutor said.
Roots also admitted that he asked one of his tenants to lie to the IRS about the amount of rent the tenant paid, Whittlesey said. Roots was to begin serving his sentence immediately, he said.
The case originated through a special investigation conducted by the Oxnard office of the IRS, officials said.
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