Marshall Man Guilty of False and Fraudulent Statements

Marshall – A Marshall man has pleaded guilty to making False and Fraudulent Statements in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston today.

Boyd Lynn Butcher, 50, pleaded guilty to making False and Fraudulent Statements today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Roy Payne. In his plea agreement, Butcher agreed to pay over $300,000 in restitution and to be sentenced to 3 years in prison.

According to court documents, beginning before 2015 and continuing through at least 2017, Butcher operated Boyd’s Tax Service. During that time, he prepared more than 450 federal tax returns for third parties in exchange for a fee—usually $300 per return—even though he was not authorized by the IRS to prepare tax returns for others. When preparing many of those returns, he created false or fraudulent information to generate unwarranted tax refunds. In total, he caused a tax harm to the IRS of more than $317,252.00. For example, in April 2016, Individual 1 paid Butcher $300 to prepare a tax return for the 2015 tax year. Butcher filed the return on behalf of Individual 1, but the return did not reflect the fact that Butcher had prepared and filed it. The return stated that Individual 1 was entitled to claim car and truck expenses from a farming business in the total sum of $80,623.00. But Butcher knew that the statement in the return was false and fraudulent because he knew that Individual 1 did not have a farming business.

Butcher was indicted by a federal grand jury on June 16, 2022.  Butcher faces up to 3 years in federal prison upon sentencing.  The maximum statutory sentence prescribed by Congress is provided here for information purposes, as the sentencing will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.  A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the U.S. Probation Office.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations Division and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Johnathan R. Hornok.