Two Ohio dentists charged with tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are facing at least 75 years in prison and millions of dollars in fines if found guilty.
Bradley Brennecke, D.D.S., of Pleasant Plain, who operates Goshen Family Dentistry, did not pay federal taxes for 1998, 2002, 2003, and 2004, according to an indictment filed by the U.S. Department of Justice in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Ohio.
Bruce Mrusek, D.D.S., of Maineville, who runs Wilmington Dental Management Services, also faces charges of tax evasion for the years 2002, 2003, and 2004.
Dr. Brennecke allegedly attempted to evade taxes by sending the proceeds from the sale of his Eastgate Dental Care practice in the form of a certified check for $310,000 to a bank account in Belize under the name Medical Services, the indictment states.
Dr. Brennecke is also charged with removing his name from the title of real estate that he jointly owned with his wife, sending the government bogus documents that purported to pay his tax liabilities, and filing false tax returns.
The indictment charges Dr. Mrusek with causing payments for services performed at his dental practice to be deposited into a bank account in the name of Mainsail Trust and using the trust to pay personal expenses.
He also allegedly transferred his assets to his wife's name, sent bogus documents to the IRS that purported to pay his tax liabilities, and filed false tax returns for Wilmington Dental Management Services by reporting deductions that the business did not incur, according to the justice department.
Conspiracy and fraud
The indictment also charges both dentists with "voluntarily, intentionally, and knowingly" conspiring to defraud the IRS.
Between January 2002 and December 2004, they co-owned Southwest Ohio Care in Maineville, which offered dental services to patients in nursing homes. They allegedly began conspiring to defraud the IRS around the time the agency began auditing each of them, according to the indictment.
They assisted each other in transferring assets out of their names and into the names of their spouses, preventing third parties from producing records in response to IRS summonses, and mailing various fraudulent documents to the IRS and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, stated the indictment.
They are also charged with submitting fictitious obligations labeled "Secured Promissory Notes" to the treasury department as purported payment of their tax debts. Each of these documents purported to be in the amount of $4.8 billion.
Both dentists appeared in federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy Hogan in Cincinnati last week.
An arraignment date has not yet been set. If convicted on all counts, Dr. Brennecke faces a maximum term of 75 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1.75 million. Dr. Mrusek, if convicted on all counts, faces a maximum term of 79 years in prison and a maximum fine of $2.25 million.
The case is being prosecuted by U.S. Department of Justice's Tax Division trial attorneys. The case was investigated by the IRS Criminal Investigation division.
Neither Dr. Brennecke nor Dr. Mrusek could be reached for comment.
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