Pest Control Owner gets One Year, $175,000 fine, May Lose License

Los Angeles – Appearing before United States District Judge Gary A. Feess, an Inglewood business operator was sentenced today to 12 months and one day in federal prison for underreporting his business income.

Frank Marshall, 66, of Los Angeles, operator of Stormies Pest Control, was further ordered to pay restitution of $175,000 to the Internal Revenue Service and to spend one year on supervised release after serving his prison sentence. In light of the sentence imposed by the court today, Marshall faces the possible loss of his State of California pest control license.

In hearings leading up to today’s sentencing, Judge Feess acknowledged that Marshall failed to report over $2 million in gross receipts from his business during the years 2003 through 2005.

On June 27, 2011, Marshall pleaded guilty to a one-count information charging him with subscribing to a false 2004 tax return. Marshall’s 2004 tax return reported business income of $87,824 on the attached Schedule C. In 2004 Stormies received substantially more income than what was reported on the tax return.

According to documents filed with the court, Marshall’s criminal conduct came to light during the course of a routine IRS tax audit.

According to the plea agreement, beginning in 2003 and continuing through 2005, Marshall operated Stormies Pest Control. Marshall controlled the finances of Stormies and was responsible for the deposits of Stormies’ gross receipts.

In addition to the unreported income for the 2004 tax year, Marshall admitted that he engaged in similar conduct for the 2003 and 2005 tax years. The total tax loss to the government for the years 2003, 2004, and 2005 is at least $175,000.

Judge Feess ordered Marshall to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons in 90 days. In issuing today’s sentence, Judge Feess commented that Marshall’s crime was serious and that the general public should know that if you are caught committing a tax crime you face the possibility of being sent to prison

The investigation and prosecution of Marshall was conducted by IRS – Criminal Investigation’s Los Angeles Field Office, in conjunction with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.