A Utah man, owner of Zion Outfitter, has been sentenced to a stint behind bars for tax evasion. Phyllip Hallman Heaton, 43, from Washington City, will have to spend five months in prison and undergo 18 months’ supervised release, which includes six months of home detention. The verdict was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Ann Marie McIff Allen after Heaton pleaded guilty to evading his tax obligations for six consecutive years.
On top of his prison time, Heaton has been ordered to open his wallet and pay substantial fines. The court has levied a $95,000.00 fine against him, and he is also to pay $1,947,906.79 in restitution, sums which he has, remarkably, paid in full at the time of sentencing. This financial recompense acts to balance out the $1.9 million of income tax Heaton was found to have actively evaded from 2017 to 2022, as reported by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Acting U.S. Attorney Felice John Viti of the District of Utah didn't mince words, stating, "No one can decide they are not going to pay their fair share of taxes without serious consequences," as per the U.S. Department of Justice. According to Viti, Heaton's sentence not only serves justice but is intended to deter others by making clear that tax evasion comes with serious penalties from the Department of Justice. By all accounts, Heaton's offense involved systematically underreporting gross receipts from his outdoor retail enterprise and consequently sandbagging his taxable personal income year after year.
