A Utah dentist was convicted of tax evasion and related offenses for trying to dodge paying about $1.8 million in back U.S. income taxes, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.
On March 17, a U.S. jury also found Dr. Derald Wilford Geddes, who previously owned and operated Mt. Ogden Dental, guilty of filing false tax returns and impeding the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), according to a release dated March 21.
From approximately 1998 through 2014, Geddes took numerous steps to evade paying approximately $1.8 million in back income taxes. The dentist reportedly obstructed the IRS' efforts to collect these taxes by filing false liens against properties he owned. Additionally, Geddes was accused of submitting bogus "bonds to discharge debt" to the IRS that he claimed were from the account of the former U.S. Secretary of Treasury, according to the justice department.
Geddes faces up to five years in prison for tax evasion and three years in prison for each count of filing a false tax return and impeding the IRS, according to the release.
