California Man Sentenced for Employment Tax Violations

A California man was sentenced today to one year and one day in prison for failing to pay over employment taxes withheld from the wages of his company’s employees.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Shane Brightpath Mike owned and was the president and chief operating officer of Excel Behavioral Services Inc., a business located in Campbell, California, that provided home care to persons with disabilities. Mike was responsible for withholding Social Security, Medicare and income taxes from his employees’ wages and paying over those funds to the IRS.

For the fourth quarter of 2014 through the third quarter of 2015, Mike did not pay any of the withheld taxes to the IRS. And for the third quarter of 2014, Mike only paid part of the withheld funds. In total, Mike did not pay more than $1 million in taxes owed to the IRS during these five quarters. During the same time, Mike used Excel’s funds to pay his personal expenses.

Mike also filed false personal income tax returns for tax years 2014 and 2015. On those returns, Mike falsely claimed credit for federal tax withholdings from wages he received from Excel, knowing that these withholdings had not been paid over to the IRS.

In total, Mike caused a tax loss to the IRS of $1,177,947.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman ordered Mike to serve three years of supervised release and to pay approximately $1,177,947 in restitution to the United States.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey for the Northern District of California made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Assistant Chief Matthew J. Kluge of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah E. Griswold for the Northern District of California prosecuted the case.