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SALT LAKE CITY — A federal jury convicted a Utah man on Tuesday of tax evasion and of forcibly retaking property that had been seized by the government to pay his outstanding tax debt.
The jury convicted Paul Kenneth Cromar, 65, of one count of tax evasion and one count of forcibly rescuing seized property. He was acquitted of attempting to interfere with the administration of Internal Revenue Service laws.
Cromar, who lived in Cedar Hills and operated a freelance film production company called Blue Moon Productions, reportedly did not pay any federal income taxes between 1999 and 2005. An audit found he owed $703,000 in federal taxes.
A press release from the Department of Justice about the verdict said he is alleged to have caused over $1.17 million in total losses to the IRS.
After Cromar's home had been sold at an auction to pay the debt, he continued living in the home. Officers from multiple agencies who responded to his home said he fortified it with weapons and sandbags and had bomb-making materials. Deputy Utah County attorney Jared Perkins said at his sentencing that a SWAT team responded because Cromar had invited an armed militia to the home, causing alarm to neighbors.
Already sentenced on state charges
Cromar and his wife were found guilty by a 4th District Court jury on July 1, 2022, of burglary and wrongful appropriation. The charges stemmed from a 2020 armed standoff with police after investigators say the couple had been living illegally for eight months in a Cedar Hills home the IRS had seized, and that they owed more than $1 million in taxes.
His wife, Barbara Cromar, 61, still has a warrant out for her arrest after the couple failed to appear in person for their sentencing hearing on Aug. 19, 2022. Paul Cromar accused the court of "man-steal(ing)" him, using a biblical reference.
Paul Cromar called the arrest warrants "an act of war" and refused to meet with Adult Probation and Parole officers.
However, after he was arrested and sentenced almost a year and a half later, he asked for mercy.
"I'm completely broken and humbled and anxious to be done with this," he said.
He said the last six years had been grueling, and he is ready to move on.
Fourth District Judge Christine Johnson said before sentencing Paul Cromar to probation that she was relieved to see he had changed. She confirmed that he had changed his mind, and he no longer stood by his statement that he had no intention of being on probation, before she sentenced him to probation.
He said, at the time, the 99 days he spent in jail were "really painful and harrowing."
Last month, Barbara Cromar claimed when she and her husband moved back into the home, it was still in their name and so she should not be guilty of burglary. She said not vacating a property after foreclosure is a civil, not criminal, offense.
On his federal charges, Paul Cromar faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for tax evasion and two years in prison for forcibly retaking seized property. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
