Marshall man guilty of false and fraudulent statements

MARSHALL – A Marshall man who worked as a tax preparer has pleaded guilty in Marshall federal court to making false and fraudulent statements. According to a news release, Boyd Lynn Butcher, 50, agreed to pay over $300,000 in restitution and to be sentenced to three 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, officials say he caused a tax harm to the IRS of more than $317,252.00.

Butcher faces up to three years in federal prison upon sentencing — the maximum statutory sentence prescribed by Congress. 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 pre-sentence investigation by the U.S. Probation Office.