The former payroll manager of a Stratford-based home healthcare company pleaded guilty on Monday to a federal tax offense.
Innis Frederick, 61, who now lives in Saint Cloud, Florida, entered the guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and impede and impair the Internal Revenue Service.
The proceeding took place via videoconference before U.S. District Court Judge Victor A. Bolden.
Frederick, who was charged last September, is free on $20,000 bond pending his sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled. The offense carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, Frederick at the time of the offense had worked as the payroll manager for Equinox Home Care LLC.
The company had originally been established by Frederick’s sister, Theresa Foreman, and another individual. In September 2012, the partnership ended, and Foreman was obligated by court order to make payments to buy out that person’s interest in the company, documents show.
For a four-year period, between approximately 2012 and 2016, Frederick assisted Foreman by processing payroll that caused checks to be issued to what prosecutors refer to as “ghost employees,” who did not actually work for the company. The money for these ghost employees actually went to Foreman, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Foreman, meanwhile, never reported the hundreds of thousands of dollars of income on her tax returns, documents show. By submitting false payroll data, Frederick caused false Forms W-2 and W-3 to be submitted to the IRS.
Frederick has agreed to pay $248,827 to the government for the tax loss attributed to him for his role in the scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Foreman, who was also charged, was sentenced in 2020 to a year in prison for tax evasion and was ordered to pay $641,941.46 in restitution to the IRS.
Last August, the company’s former chief financial officer, Pamela Smith of Kirkland, Wash., was sentenced to two years of probation for aiding in the preparation of a false tax return. She was also ordered to perform 100 hours of community service.
Contact Michelle Tuccitto Sullo at msullo@newhavenbiz.com.
