FAYETTEVILLE -- A Cave Springs man and former general manager at several Northwest Arkansas car dealerships was sentenced Monday to 24 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay more than $448,000 restitution for evading federal income taxes for seven years, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Jonathan M. Wichman, 36, pleaded guilty to tax evasion Jan. 23.
Wichman worked from 2014 through 2020, mainly as a general manager at car dealerships in Northwest Arkansas. He earned more than $2.3 million in wages during that time and didn't file timely tax returns with the IRS for any of those years, despite the IRS asking why he hadn't done so, according to the release.
In May 2019, the IRS issued assessments for Wichman's 2014 and 2016 taxes, which he didn't pay. In 2019, Wichman filed his tax returns for tax years 2014 through 2018, but didn't make any payments. In October 2018, Wichman accessed his employer's online payroll system and caused the dealership to not withhold any federal income taxes or employment taxes from his 2019 and 2020 wages and he again didn't file returns in 2019 and 2020, the release states.
Wichman told investigating agents he knew he owed past due taxes to the IRS. He said he prepared his taxes using commercial software, and each year, the program showed he owed a large amount of money in taxes. Wichman claimed he didn't have the money to pay his taxes, so he didn't file his tax returns, the release states.
However, the investigation revealed Wichman did have the money. From 2018 through 2021, he made cash transactions at various casinos and banks totaling more than $1 million. Wichman also spent more than $513,000 on luxury vehicles, a travel trailer and a Florida vacation from 2014 through 2022, according to the release.
Wichman evaded a total of $276,244 in income taxes -- $263,615 owed to the IRS, and $12,628 owed to Arkansas, according to the release.
Wichman was ordered to pay $448,592 in restitution, which included penalties and interest – $445,715 to the U.S. Treasury and $12,997 to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration.
The IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated the case, with assistance from the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration.
U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks presided over the sentencing hearing. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Mohlhenrich prosecuted the case.