Branson tax evaders sentenced to probation

U.S. District Court Judge James England told Dingman and Grady that recent revisions to federal sentencing laws allowed him to take into account their contrition and cooperation with the U.S. government. Still, the judge said he was “offended” that Dingman, Grady and other tax protesters use religion and the U.S. Constitution to justify their illegal actions.

In July, Dingman and Grady pleaded guilty to willfully refusing to file federal income tax returns from 1996 to 2001 while part owners and employees of American Strap Inc., a leather products manufacturer based in northern Arkansas. Dingman later bought out Grady – now a Branson real estate agent – and changed the company’s name to Martin Dingman Leathergoods.

In November, Dingman and Grady accepted a unique offer from the IRS to share their stories with local media outlets, including Springfield Business Journal and radio shows in Branson and Springfield. At the time, they each faced up to two years in prison without parole and a maximum $50,000 fine.

Dingman and Grady told SBJ they put their reputations on the line to educate others about the consequences of their emotionally driven tax protest. Both men said anti-tax advocates who invoked Christianity and patriotism convinced them not to pay their federal income taxes.

At Tuesday’s sentencing, Stan Weiner, Grady’s Kansas City attorney, described the tax protesters who persuaded his client to join their cause as “snake-oil salesmen.”

“It’s a shame they’re not here to bear the brunt of what they’ve brought,” Weiner said.

Dingman and Grady told SBJ they learned about the anti-tax movement through two deacons at Dingman’s church in Branson.

Dingman and Grady said they attended a seminar led by Lindsey Springer, a Tulsa, Okla., man who – along with more than 70 plaintiffs – sued the U.S. government in 1996, alleging that federal income tax is unconstitutional. Springer is the founder of Bondage Breakers Ministries.

In February 1998, a federal judge granted summary judgment against Springer and his fellow plaintiffs and imposed sanctions against them, and a year later, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment and assessed additional sanctions against Springer and the other appellants, according to court documents.

After Dingman and Grady shared their stories with local media, Springer filed a defamation lawsuit against SBJ, Dingman, Grady and IRS Special Agent Bonnie MacLeod, an agency spokeswoman. The case is pending in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

See SBJ’s Feb. 4 issue for more about Tuesday’s sentencing.