Monroe County businessman sentenced to federal prison in tax evasion case

The IRS says Carmen Deck Trevitt Jr. owed $615,067 in 2011 for tax years 2002 through 2007.

Trevitt, a Monroe County businessman, had owned his own business since 1978, working in logging, grading and environmental management.

Testimony during a federal court hearing Wednesday described what a judge later called "a calculated and persistent scheme to defraud the government" as well as a Monroe County bank.

Trevitt, 59, pleaded guilty last summer to two counts of passing fictitious obligations, according to records.

He was sentenced Wednesday to 27 months in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.

Federal authorities started investigating in November 2011 after an IRS worker in Macon reported receiving documents from Trevitt that had been sent to try to obstruct the IRS from collecting taxes that he owed, said David Rich, an agent with the office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

Some documents showed that Trevitt and his wife were dead.

In others, he submitted two fraudulent international bills of exchange -- a form of currency -- for $700,000 and $500,000, Rich testified. The IRS reviewed the bills and deemed them illegitimate.

Had the bills been accepted, Trevitt would have been issued a refund for any amount paid above his $615,067 debt, Rich said.

Barry Debrow Jr., Trevitt's lawyer, said his client submitted the $500,000 payment after not receiving a response to his $700,000 payment.

A third bill was submitted to a Monroe County bank as payment for a property loan. It wasn't credited as payment either, Rich said.

Trevitt also sent the IRS two electronic fund transfers in spring 2012, trying to pay $630,000 from closed accounts.

More than 40 people attended the hearing at the U.S. District Courthouse to support Trevitt.

Three character witnesses spoke during the hearing, including Monroe County Sheriff John Cary Bittick, who described Trevitt as a man he's known since they were boys.

The sheriff said he didn't attend the hearing to try to condone illegal conduct, but he said he thinks Trevitt was taken in by a scam perpetrated by "snake oil salesmen" that led him astray.

"I think Carmen believed what he was told," Bittick said. "Carmen has always been honest with me and a good guy."

Chuck Thompson described Trevitt as a well-respected businessman of good character and core values.

Debrow argued for mercy on his client's behalf, pointing to the number of supporters in the courtroom.

Prosecutor Sonja Profit said Trevitt "demonstrated a pure disrespect for the law" and argued for the maximum prison term recommended in federal guidelines -- 33 months, plus a $30,000 fine.

Before his sentence was announced, Trevitt said he thought he had the right to use the account linked to the fraudulent international bills of exchange.

"There was never any ill will or illegal intent on my part," he said.

A civil suit filed by the government still is pending against Trevitt, his wife and several other people relating to the unpaid taxes, according to court records.

A Macon accountant testified during Wednesday's hearing that the unpaid taxes should amount to about $125,000, much less than what the IRS has maintained.

To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398 or find her on Twitter at@awomackmacon.

This story was originally published January 13, 2016 at 6:07 PM with the headline "Monroe County businessman sentenced to federal prison in tax evasion case ."