Tax Evader Ordered to Return to Prison

A 60-year-old former insurance agent was ordered to prison for a second time for failing to pay nearly $200,000 in back taxes, federal officials said Thursday.

Thomas Roots of Ventura had pleaded guilty nearly six years ago to felony charges of income-tax evasion and obstructing the Internal Revenue Service, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Brent Whittlesey.

As a result of that plea, U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian in Los Angeles sentenced Roots to eight months in federal prison and five years’ probation, and ordered him to pay the IRS $189,701 in addition to a $20,000 fine.

Roots, who is unemployed, served his prison term and paid the fine, but did not pay the IRS. He said he couldn’t because no one would hire a convicted felon, according to Whittlesey.

But an investigation into Roots’ finances revealed that he had transferred four pieces of Ventura real estate, including a condominium in the Ventura Keys, to a trust benefiting his wife, Linda, after his 1992 conviction, the prosecutor said.

Tevrizian ruled Wednesday in federal court in Los Angeles that Roots had violated the terms of his probation and sentenced Roots to six more months in prison. Roots has until March 17 to report to federal authorities, Whittlesey said.

Neither Roots nor his wife were available for comment Thursday, and his attorney, Deputy Federal Public Defender Anthony Eaglin, did not return phone calls.