William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor | Mar 30, 2012 11:35AM EDT
Two trucking company owners already charged with defrauding a shipper customer now face charges that they tried to scam the Internal Revenue Service.
A federal grand jury in Delaware charged Donald L. Dutton Sr. and Vicki R. Dutton with one count of conspiracy and four counts of willful failure to file tax returns.
The charges follow an indictment last September for a scheme to defraud Allen Family Foods, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware said Thursday.
If convicted, the Duttons, identified as former owners of Little D. Trucking and Dutton Trucking of Georgetown, Del., could face more than 20 years in prison.
In the Allen Family Foods case, the Duttons are charged with running a $1.3 million scheme to defraud the Seaford, Del., poultry processor from 2005 to 2009.
According to the indictment, Dutton Trucking hauled loads for Allen, but also billed the now bankrupt shipper for $1.3 million in business it did not handle.
The indictment claims the Duttons paid an Allen dispatch clerk substantial kickbacks for furthering the scheme by processing fraudulent invoices.
In the IRS case, the Duttoms are charged with failing to report $1.8 million in taxable income earned between 2005 and 2008 and file returns for Little D. Trucking.
The indictment alleges the Duttons directed staff to prepare false spreadsheets, inflated business deductions and failed to report wages paid to truck drivers.
Contact William B. Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter at @wbcassidy_joc
