WILLIAMSPORT — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Pennsylvania, Middle), published as received.

WILLIAMSPORT- The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Devon Buck, age 33, of Cogan Station, Pennsylvania, has been charged in a one-count criminal Information with attempting to evade income taxes.

According to United States Attorney John C. Gurganus, the Information alleges that Buck operated a landscaping business called DCL Landscaping and for the calendar years 2015 through 2019, Buck attempted to evade $203,324 in federal income taxes.  The Information alleges that Buck prepared and delivered business invoices to DCL customers requesting that they make checks for landscaping services payable to Buck personally, instead of DCL, Buck asked customers to not place the DCL name on their checks, and he provided DCL invoices to customers which included an instruction to make their payments payable to Buck individually.  The Information also alleges that from 2015 through 2019, Buck diverted approximately $677,877 of DCL receipts by cashing customer checks rather than depositing them into a business bank account, and he deposited only $240,749 of customer payments into the DCL business bank account during that period.   He allegedly provided fraudulent business summaries to his tax return preparer for use in preparing IRS Form 1040 income tax returns and Schedule C statements of business receipts and expenses, which falsely underreported DCL gross receipts and evaded the payment of federal income taxes.   

The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney George J. Rocktashel is prosecuting the case.

The maximum penalty under federal law for this offense is five (5) years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

Indictments and Criminal Informations are only allegations. All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.

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