A Laurel couple was sentenced to prison Friday for tax evasion, prosecutors said.
Ronald Dean Bateson, 53, was sentenced to 15 months and his wife, 51-year-old Cynthia Bateson, was sentenced to 18 months for not filing tax returns for $1.4 million of income for a construction company they owned, according to a statement Friday from Maryland's U.S. Attorney's Office.
The couple operated a Columbia-based company called Bateson Construction Inc. that often acted as a subcontractor on commercial projects, the statement said.
The Batesons admitted to not filing returns for the tax years 2003 through 2007, which allowed them to keep more than $300,000 they owed the government, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
From 2003 through 2005, the Batesons disguised their personal income by making purchases from business accounts and charging personal items on corporate credit cards, the government said.
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