A man in Stanly County has pleaded guilty Wednesday in a federal tax fraud investigation.
Michael Todd Forrest of Albemarle pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Winston-Salem to filing a false tax return, U.S. Attorney Sandra J. Hairston announced.
According to court-filed documents, Forrest owned and operated a business known as The Forrest Fence Company LLC in Albemarle, and from 2017 to 2021 he routinely directed customers to make checks payable to him instead of to the business.
Forrest then cashed those checks or deposited them into a personal bank account instead of the Forrest Fence business checking account, and he would would conceal those checks from his tax return preparer, which resulted in a tax loss of over $200,000.
Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 14 at 9:30 a.m. in Winston-Salem. Forrest faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison, a period of supervised release of up to one year, and monetary penalties.
