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OGDEN — An Ogden man will spend time in federal prison after pleading guilty to failing to pay over $500,000 in taxes from multiple businesses.
Daniel Fry, 46, was sentenced Thursday to a year and one day in federal prison after he pleaded guilty in December to one felony count of failing to account for and pay trust fund taxes, according to court records. Federal prosecutors initially charged Fry with 27 counts of the same charge, though, the other counts were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.
Prosecutors say Fry owned and operated different health care businesses in the Ogden area, and he was responsible for the payroll at each business, according to a news release from the Utah U.S. Attorney's Office. This responsibility also included accounting for and withholding federal employment taxes, "trust fund taxes" and paying out those taxes to the IRS.
Between January 2013 and December 2016, Fry withheld the tax money from paychecks and collected trust fund taxes as he was supposed to do, as well as reporting the businesses' tax withholdings to the IRS. However, he did not pay the taxes to the IRS. In total, he failed to pay $568,590 owed by the businesses.
"This case is proof that we will hold business owners accountable if they violate their duty to pay employment taxes to the United States Government," Utah U.S. Attorney Andrea Martinez said in the news release.
Fry signed off on a plea agreement admitting to the allegations first made by prosecutors when Fry was charged in December 2020.
Fry was also sentenced to serve one year of supervised probation once he is released from prison. He is ordered to pay $568,590 in restitution. Court records indicate Fry will be sent to a minimum-security federal prison near Utah so family can visit. He is required to report to the prison in June.
