Alphonso Tillman, Employment Tax Evasion, Maryland 2023

Greenbelt, Maryland - Alphonso Tillman, age 44, of Fort Washington, Maryland, has been sentenced to two years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for failing to account for and pay over employment taxes. The U.S. District Judge George L. Russell III also ordered Tillman to pay restitution of $2,205,991.40.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Acting Special Agent in Charge Sheila Olander of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, Washington, D.C. Field Office.

“Using money withheld from your employees’ compensation for personal gain is reckless,” said Sheila Olander, Acting Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Washington DC Field Office. “Business owners are responsible to withhold and pay over income taxes from their employees’ compensation to the IRS. Today’s sentencing shows failing to do so is a serious offense to which Mr. Tillman is being held accountable.”

According to his plea agreement, Tillman was the president and sole owner of Remote Surveillance Technology Solutions, Inc. (RSTS) and its successor, Remote Surveillance Technology Services, LLC, (RSTServ). The companies were headquartered in Landover, Maryland, and provided security guards to protect commercial and residential properties in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia.

RSTS and RSTServ withheld taxes from their employees’ paychecks, including federal income taxes, Medicare, and Social Security taxes (payroll taxes), which the companies were required to pay over to the IRS on a periodic basis. Tillman failed to file the required forms or pay the payroll taxes due for RSTS and RSTServ, with the exception of payments made by RSTS to the IRS as a result of IRS collection efforts.

Between 2005 and 2008, Tillman made hundreds of thousands of dollars of expenditures from the RSTS and RSTServ business accounts for his personal benefit while failing to pay over to the IRS payroll taxes withheld from employee paychecks.

The total amount of tax loss resulting from Tillman’s failure to pay taxes owed by RSTS and RSTServ is $2,205,991.40.

“I want to commend the IRS-Criminal Investigation for its work in the investigation and thank Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean B. O’Connell, who prosecuted the case,” United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said.

Tillman, who pleaded guilty to failing to account for and pay over employment taxes, will begin serving his prison sentence immediately.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/owner-landover-business-pleads-guilty-failing-pay-over-22-million-employment-taxes