A Gillette man last week was sentenced in U.S. District Court to federal prison and ordered to pay back more than $200,000 he stole through tax violations and wire fraud to pay for his taxi business.
David A. Jackson, 37, was sentenced on May 24 for wire fraud, willful failure to collect or pay over tax and filing a false tax return. He was also ordered to pay $203,251 in restitution.
He received just under four years imprisonment for the wire fraud and willful failure charges and just over three for filing a false tax return. The prison sentences will run concurrently.
Last fall, Jackson initially pleaded not guilty to 11 charges, but instead changed this after striking a plea agreement.
According to court documents, from October 2017 to April 2019, Jackson worked as the office manager for some Gillette businesses, all owned by a person identified as “T.K.”
Jackson was responsible for handling financial aspects of his employer’s businesses, including complying with IRS requirements.
During this time period, Jackson owned and operated a taxi business in Gillette and Casper under the names Need a Ride Transportation, All Star Transportation and WYRide LLC.
From February 2018 to May 2019, Jackson committed wire fraud by embezzling money from his employer, diverting money from the employer’s bank account and misusing a company credit card for his own personal expenditures, including expenses associated with his taxi business.
He used at least three business credit cards to pay for personal charges.
As part of his scheme to defraud his employer, Jackson also failed to account for and pay over to the IRS the employer’s trust fund taxes.
He instead diverted these funds to pay for expenses associated with his taxi business, such as shipping charges, fuel for the vehicles, automobile repairs and more.
In January 2019, Jackson filed a 2018 individual income tax return with the IRS in which he failed to report $136,008 in income from several sources, particularly the money he embezzled from his employer and other income he earned that year.