FRESNO - U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd sentenced Michael Galloway, 63, of Bakersfield, to 21 months in prison for tax evasion, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced. Galloway was ordered to surrender to serve his sentence beginning on November 14, 2018.
On March 21, 2018, a jury in Fresno returned a guilty verdict today, convicting on four counts of tax evasion. Galloway owns and operates the website, Catholic Online. According to court documents, Galloway generated revenue by selling advertising and hosting to faith-based businesses.
“No matter what the source of income, all income is taxable,” said Tara Sullivan, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation. “Mr. Galloway received income from many sources, however, he failed to disclose his true income to the IRS. This sentence should send a clear message: tax evasion is a violation of federal law and can have severe consequences that can result in jail time.”
For tax years 2003 through 2006, Galloway improperly deducted personal expenses as business expenses, including his homeowner’s association fees for his personal residence, car payments and insurance, utilities and cable service for his personal residence, tile work, and personal legal fees.
For the four charged years, Galloway reported an income of $13,241 (2003); $28,846 (2004); $-60,438 (2005); and $23,053 (2006). During this time the defendant owned a 4,600 square-foot residence on a golf course in Bakersfield that he had purchased for $850,000. He made mortgage payments those years totaling $81,943 (2003); $78,694 (2004); $79,372 (2005); and $80,411 (2006). For the four years in question, these figures amounted to a claim by the defendant that he earned only $4,702 and yet was able to make $320,420 in mortgage payments.
Cumulatively, he underreported his and his spouse’s taxable income during those years by at least $671,755, resulting in an additional tax due and owing of over $102,000. The jury also found that he falsely claimed to IRS agents during a 2010 interview that he made his mortgage payments from cash that he had saved over 40 years. The jury found that this statement was an attempt to evade income tax.
This case was the product of an investigation by IRS Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Megan A. S. Richards and Michael Tierney prosecuted the case.
