A federal grand jury in Charleston, West Virginia returned an indictment charging a Pineville man with willful failure to pay over employment taxes and obstructing the IRS’s collection efforts. According to the indictment, Christopher J. Smyth operated Wyoming County’s Best Ambulance Service Inc., Stat Ambulance Service Inc., and Stat EMS LLC, all of which provided ambulance services in Wyoming County, West Virginia. Smyth allegedly was responsible for collecting and paying over to the IRS employment taxes withheld from the wages of the three companies’ employees. Even though he allegedly withheld these funds from the wages of Stat Ambulance Service’s employees, Smyth did not pay to the IRS the full employee withholdings or the full employer’s share. After the IRS imposed penalties against Smyth for not paying over these funds, he allegedly stopped operating Stat Ambulance Service and created Stat EMS in the name of a nominee owner. Smyth nonetheless allegedly continued operating the new ambulance business in the same manner as the previous company, and did not pay over to the IRS all of the employment taxes owed on behalf of the employees of Stat EMS. After the IRS attempted to collect the unpaid employment taxes for Stat EMS, as well as the resulting penalties, Smyth allegedly attempted to obstruct the IRS’s efforts by making false and misleading statements.
