Home Repairmen Plead Guilty To Tax Fraud For Failing To Report Income Earned From Elderly Clients

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A pair of repairmen that earned more than $1.5 million from elderly customers for home repair services appeared in federal court today and pleaded guilty to tax fraud, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. David Angelo Quick, 43, of Charlotte, and Tony Joshua Christo, 33, formerly of Charlotte, now residing in Florida, pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return.

Jason Krizmanich, Acting Inspector in Charge of the Atlanta Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), and Donald "Trey" Eakins, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Charlotte Field Office, join U.S. Attorney King in making today's announcement.

According to plea documents and the court hearing, from 2018 to 2021, Quick and Christo provided home repair and improvement services, as well as car repair services, to elderly clients. During that time, the defendants collectively received more than $1.5 million from elderly customers but failed to report any of this income on their federal income tax returns filed with the IRS. Quick, who was not a licensed contractor, owned and operated David Quick Home Improvements, which provided roofing, painting, driveway construction and other home services. Christo worked with Quick on home repair projects. Filed documents and statements made in court show that the defendants defrauded some of the elderly clients by overcharging them for repairs. Court records also show that the defendants received payment for their services, but they failed to report their income to the IRS.

Both defendants pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return. The charge carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The defendants were released on bond following the plea hearings and will be sentenced at a later date.

In making today's announcement, U.S. Attorney King thanked IRS-CI and USPIS for their investigation of the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Caryn Finley of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Charlotte is prosecuting the case.