CABL Forum - ADT Operator Sentenced

From "The Courier" (thecourier.com)

Local businessman sentenced to prison

TOLEDO -- A former Findlay business operator has been ordered to serve more than two years in federal prison for failing to pay more than $3 million in payroll taxes to the Internal Revenue Service.

Tony M. Tate, of Findlay, was sentenced by a federal judge, U.S. Northern District Court Judge James G. Carr, to 27 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.

Tate had faced up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine after pleading guilty last May to willful failure to pay employment taxes.

Tate, who was a co-owner, vice president and operator of American Digital Technologies Corp. (ADT), a Findlay cable company, was charged with failing to account for and pay to the IRS $3,213,753 in payroll taxes that were due from Tate and ADT from the last quarter of 1998 through 2001.

According to records, $2,350,603 of the total amount were payroll taxes that Tate had withheld from salaries of ADT employees. The remaining $863,150 was matching payroll taxes that ADT was required to pay the IRS.

When he pleaded guilty last year, Tate admitted he was responsible for ADT's compliance with its federal tax obligations and told the court that he willfully caused ADT not to file 13 quarterly federal payroll tax returns.

As part of a plea bargain, Tate is barred from exercising authority or control over the payroll or tax compliance functions of any business or entity in which he has an ownership interest while under supervised release.

In exchange for the plea, prosecutors agreed not to prosecute Tate for any other crimes related to the tax fraud.

The Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service investigated the criminal case, which was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth D. Uram.

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ADT Operator Sentenced