Concord businessman pleads guilty to tax offense

Date: September 4, 2024

Contact: [email protected]

Greensboro, NC - A Concord, North Carolina, man has pleaded guilty to willfully failing to collect or pay over taxes, announced Sandra J. Hairston, United States Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina (USAO-MDNC).

According to court documents, from on or about the first quarter of 2016 up to and including the third quarter of 2022, Ronald James McMurphy of Concord was the president of McMurphy Hydraulics, Inc., which was in the business of repairing and manufacturing hydraulics equipment. From on or about the fourth quarter of 2019 up to and including the third quarter of 2022, McMurphy also served as president of Powertek Equipment, Inc., a manufacturer of heavy equipment for construction and forestry businesses. McMurphy exercised control over the financial affairs of both companies by, among other acts, serving and executing duties as the president of each corporation; exercising authority to hire and fire employees; and having and exercising signatory authority on checks drawn on the corporate bank accounts. He was thus a person responsible for accounting for and paying to the IRS the employment taxes for the employees of both companies, but for various tax periods, McMurphy willfully failed to truthfully account for and pay over the trust fund taxes and employer matching taxes due and owing to the IRS on behalf of the companies' employees. The total employment tax liability from the first quarter of 2016 through the third quarter of 2022 for which McMurphy is accountable is $712,017.00.

McMurphy pleaded guilty today before Chief United States District Court Judge Catherine C. Eagles. Sentencing is scheduled for December 12, 2024, in Greensboro. McMurphy faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, as well as a period of supervised release of not more than three years, and monetary penalties.

The case is being investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). Assistant United States Attorney Laura J. Dildine of the Middle District of North Carolina is prosecuting the case.

IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.