BECKLEY, W.Va. — The operator of an ambulance service in Wyoming County has been convicted for failing to pay taxes withheld from employees’ wages and for obstructing the IRS.
A federal jury in Beckley, West Virginia convicted Christopher Jason Smyth this week. Smyth operated Stat EMS LLC, an ambulance service located in Pineville, West Virginia, between 2012 and part of 2017.
Stat EMS was created by Smyth after a previous ambulance business that he operated accrued millions of dollars of employment tax liabilities and ended up filing for bankruptcy. Smyth’s responsibility with Stat EMS LLC was to withhold Social Security, Medicare and income taxes from employees’ wages and pay them to the IRS. However, evidence presented during the trial showed that for two quarters in 2016, Smyth did not fully pay the taxes to the IRS and instead used the money to pay for various personal expenses and also transferred funds to businesses held by his friends and family. The IRS determined that Stat EMS accrued approximately $3.3 million in unpaid taxes.
The IRS attempted to collect the unpaid taxes from Smyth, but he denied having a personal bank account and that he used anyone else’s. An IRS revenue officer said Smyth lied and would regularly deposit paychecks into an account in a relative’s name. Smyth also told the IRS that he had nothing to do with several other businesses, but he did have signature authority over their bank accounts.
The jury found Smyth guilty of two counts of failing to pay over taxes for two quarters in 2016 and one count of obstructing the IRS in relation to its efforts to collect the unpaid taxes from Smyth. He was found not guilty on the failure to pay over taxes counts related to two quarters in 2017.
Smyth’s sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 4. He faces up to up to five years in prison for each count of failure to pay taxes as well as three years in prison for obstructing the IRS.
IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.