Ozark business owner sentenced to prison for tax evasion

The owner of an Ozark trailer manufacturer has been sentenced in federal court for tax evasion.

Kyle Jon Thompson, 47, owner of Branson Trailer Manufacturing, was sentenced Monday to two years and six months in federal prison without parole and was ordered to pay $1.07 million in back taxes to the government, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's office for the Western District of Missouri.

Thompson pleaded guilty to tax evasion in November. He admitted to receiving about $2.8 million in income in 2006 and failing to pay the personal income tax owed for that year, according to the release. He also admitted to failing to file federal income tax returns for his company or himself from 1997 to 2006.

Branson Trailer produced about 3,000 trailers in 2006, with estimated gross receipts of $6.9 million, and the company's gross profit that year was about $2.8 million. From 2003 to 2005, Branson Trailer produced about 6,000 trailers and had gross receipts totaling about $15 million, the release said.

Thompson attempted to conceal his income by paying his employees in cash, failing to withhold any required taxes and by purchasing real estate and other property with cash. He also hid his ownership interest in 17 vehicles that included limousines, Corvettes, Cadillac Escalades, a Jaguar, a Ford Model-T and a Ford Thunderbird. He also structured cash bank deposits to avoid currency transaction reporting requirements, the release said.

Thompson also admitted that in 2004, he purchased a 2004 Keystone Everest travel trailer that he knew or should have known had been stolen, according to the release. He paid $10,000 and traded eight or nine manufactured trailers for the Keystone trailer, which had a retail value of $51,000.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Mohlhenrich and was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, Missouri State Highway Patrol and Missouri State Water Patrol.[[In-content Ad]]