Ex-Reserve Deputy Gets 2 Years for Perjury

A former Los Angeles County reserve deputy sheriff has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for lying to a federal grand jury investigating allegations of tax evasion in the motor fuel distribution industry.

Elia Tawil, 33, of San Dimas, also was fined $20,000, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Stephen G. Larson.

Tawil was found guilty of lying to the panel during its investigation of excise tax evasion and money laundering by people and companies in the Southern California wholesale and retail fuel industry.

Tawil and his father, Maurice, were later indicted by the same grand jury on charges of conspiring to defraud the California Board of Equalization, and mail fraud and money laundering, Larson said.

Maurice Tawil, 59, pleaded guilty to mail fraud charges and was sentenced to a year in prison. The tax charges were dropped against Elia Tawil, however, when he agreed to plead guilty to perjury, Larson said.

The Tawils were accused of setting up phony wholesale distribution firms to avoid paying taxes on gasoline sold to retail stations. Federal agents discovered the phony companies were established in the names of unsuspecting prison inmates and other individuals, Larson said.