A crafty Massachusetts businessman is headed to the clink after cooking the books for a decade. Stephen Schofield, who sucked funds from his employees’ withheld taxes, was slapped with a nine-month prison sentence followed by two years on a leash with supervised release. The 70-year-old Melrose man, formerly riding high as the boss of Schofield Concrete Forms and Schofields of Melrose, Inc., took a plea deal last October for one count of failure to pay over taxes.
Not only did Schofield purloin taxes for himself, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, but also fattened the wallet of a family member who wasn’t even on the payroll – all while the IRS twiddled their thumbs missing over a million bucks. To boot, Schofield’s been ordered to cough up a fine of $7,500 and shell back $1,051,000 in restitution to the IRS.
While his employees were issued W-2 forms showing their taxes as withheld, Schofield was lining his pockets, bankrolling a plush lifestyle and putting the moola into travel, bling, dining, nautical gear, and a Fidelity investment account, says Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Harry Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation, Boston Field Office. Schofield pilfered around $612,000 for himself and doled out $344,000 to his kin.
It’s yet another tale of a fat cat playing fast and loose with the system, and this one's ending with federal bars. Schofield’s enterprises are now shadowed by his deceit. Despite failing to file corporate or individual tax returns for a span of 10 years, Schofield’s financial "sleight of hand" was uncovered by IRS investigations, which revealed the deep pockets he dug into, supposed for other expenses.
