A Falmouth man who allegedly dodged taxes for close to a decade was sentenced on Tuesday in federal court in Portland for tax evasion.
Jeffrey Riddle, 59, was sentenced to three years probation and ordered to pay $590,912 in restitution, which includes unpaid taxes and penalties, according to court records. He pleaded guilty on Dec. 16, 2024, and his sentence was the result of a plea deal.
Riddle allegedly filed federal income tax returns for 2006 through 2014 in which he claimed he owed substantial federal tax, but then did not pay, according to court records cited by the U.S. Department of Justice in a news release.
Court records indicate that Riddle used corporate bank accounts to pay for personal expenses and buy cars and real estate, including a home on Great Diamond Island in Portland, while the IRS was trying to collect back taxes from him.
The IRS started trying to collect Riddle’s back taxes in 2010, placing tax liens on property and levies on his bank account, according to the Justice Department.
In 2015, Riddle created a new business, Silica Marketing LLC, and entered into a “lucrative consulting agreement with a large tire retailer.” Riddle put the company under the name of his wife at the time and used the proceeds to pay personal expenses, according to the Justice Department.
Riddle later allegedly told an IRS officer that he earned $6,000 a month in wages from Silica and gave the IRS a falsified letter to back up the claim, but he did not disclose that he had a consulting agreement as Silica’s president and CEO and that Silica was receiving substantial income from that contract, the Justice Department said.
Riddle also did not disclose that money paid to Silica was being used to pay his personal expenses, including a down payment on the home on Great Diamond Island that he purchased in 2016 in Silica’s name, according to the Justice Department.
Under the terms of the 2024 plea deal, Riddle could have served up to five years in prison and faced up to $250,000 in penalties, in addition to the three years of probation to which he was ultimately sentenced.