The owner of a now-defunct Springfield roofing company was sentenced today to prison time and fined for tax fraud.
Stephen Schroff, 53, was handed a two-year sentence in federal prison without parole and a $600,023 IRS restitution order by U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips, according to a news release from Tammy Dickinson, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
Schroff owned and operated Stephen Schroff Inc., which conducted business as ABC Roofing. According to Missouri secretary of state records, Stephen Schroff Inc. was formed in 2005 and dissolved in October 2009 for failing to file a registration report. ABC Roofing & Contracting LLC, which Schroff created in 1997, was administratively canceled by the state in 2008 for failure to file its organization articles.
On Sept. 25, Schroff pleaded guilty to filing false federal income tax returns for 2005-09, and failing to report $1.93 million in income, according to the release.
Starting in 2007, Schroff began concealing income from his business. According to court documents, he diverted business receipts from ABC Roofing by cashing checks from customers instead of depositing them into the business’ bank account and also depositing customers’ checks into secret accounts at other banks. When he filed taxes 2007-09, he failed to report $1.2 million in embezzled income, the release said.
During the timeframe of the offenses, Schroff relocated to a larger home, invested money in a partnership that acquired rental property, began development of a residential subdivision, and owned a Cadillac Escalade, Chevy Corvette, a lake house and a boat, the release said.
The case was prosecuted by Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Oliver and was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation and the IRS-Special Enforcement Program.
Schroff is the son of Robert William Schroff, a longtime Springfield attorney who died in 2012 at age 83 after serving stints as president of the Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association and chairman of the Springfield Zoning and Planning Board and City Utilities Board of Public Utilities, according to
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