Newsflash: Filing Fake Form 8300's on people = not good idea

[buck09]

From the Milwaukee Journal Setinel:

Gary Pansier, a 70-year-old former airline pilot from Crivitz, hasn't paid taxes since the 1980s, and when the tax man came collecting, he had a way to retaliate.

Pansier filed a flurry of phony Internal Revenue Service forms against county, state and federal officials, according to federal court documents. He even filed forms against the IRS agent investigating him, a federal prosecutor and a federal judge.

On Friday, Pansier, who was convicted by a jury of filing fraudulent IRS forms in June after a nine-day trial, received 24 months in prison from U.S. District Judge Charles Clevert.

Pansier is the latest case of what the IRS says is a troubling pattern: people who lash out at government officials and others, with IRS forms, creating a difficult mess to clean up. He is the fourth person in the eastern district of Wisconsin to be convicted in the last few years of using IRS forms against government officials, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Gail Hoffman.

"He forced them to have private consequences for their public life," she said.

Pansier told Clevert he misunderstood what he was doing.

"These were mistakes, and I truly apologize," he said.

Pansier was charged with filing eight phony Form 8300s against people such as a state revenue agent, a Brown County judge, the Marinette County treasurer and others. In total, Hoffman said, he filed 41 of the 8300s, which are IRS forms required when someone receives a cash payment of $10,000 or more. The form is intended to catch suspicious transactions and often snares drug dealers. Hoffman, against whom Pansier filed a different IRS form after he was charged in November 2005, said they are a headache to clear up and can lead to audits. Pansier was not charged for filing the forms against Hoffman, the IRS agent and the federal judge, but he was locked up after filling out the forms on two separate occasions and has been behind bars for 11 months.

Pansier also sent other forms - called "sight drafts" - to government offices where he owed taxes. They looked like a money order but were bogus, Hoffman said.

Pansier's attorney, Nishay Sanan, said Pansier never benefited from the "sight drafts" because banks spotted them as bogus. Pansier viewed them like IOUs, Sanan said. Pansier was no mastermind committing an elaborate fraud, he said.

"This scheme was going nowhere," Sanan said.

Clevert, who noted Pansier hadn't acknowledged he had done anything wrong until sentencing Friday, said he would have given Pansier a tougher sentence if he were younger and didn't have health issues. Ordinarily, Clevert said, he doesn't think defendants 50 or older will commit more crimes, but he suspected Pansier might do it again.

"The court has to impose a sentence that gets the attention not only of the defendant but others who might follow a similar course of conduct," he said.

The 11 months Pansier has served will be subtracted from his sentence.

Pansier told Clevert he would appeal.

[Imalawman]

From the Milwaukee Journal Setinel:

"These were mistakes, and I truly apologize," he said.[/color]



Pansier's attorney, Nishay Sanan, said Pansier never benefited from the "sight drafts" because banks spotted them as bogus. Pansier viewed them like IOUs, Sanan said. Pansier was no mastermind committing an elaborate fraud, he said.

"This scheme was going nowhere," Sanan said.

While he's protesting taxes and conducting his "operation" he's a know-it-all blowhard. But when it comes time to pay the piper he plays the fool (and I'm sure convincingly too).

This is the type of stuff that makes dealing with TPs a real headache.

[Famspear]

As someone who has never worked for the government and has never had any tax protester jerks file false reports against me, I can nevertheless say that I have absolutely no patience with this kind of despicable behavior. Whatever the maximum penalty is for this kind of thing, this guy should have received it.

[.]

he filed 41 of the 8300s

Yup, just a mistake.

Aren't there some federal statutes about filing false liens, sight-drafts, etc, which he could be afoul of?

He may be lucky that he's not in prison for a whole lot longer than he is.

[Disilloosianed]

The only bright light with this situation is that I think that word is getting around the TP circles that this is a bad idea. I've only had one make a thinly veiled threat to do something like this and I let that one know that we would be more than happen to deal with him in criminal court as well as civil. So far, not a peep.

[Imalawman]

The only bright light with this situation is that I think that word is getting around the TP circles that this is a bad idea. I've only had one make a thinly veiled threat to do something like this and I let that one know that we would be more than happen to deal with him in criminal court as well as civil. So far, not a peep.

We've had a few nut cases file some liens and some physical threats from posse comitatus. Its been our department's policy to have a state trooper escort us to and from TP meetings and hearings. Lately, the TPs do seem much milder and less threatening, I haven't bothered with the state troopers for my cases. In the last year, I've only had one quasi threat of filing a lien against me. So I think you're right, TPs are getting the hint that this does not end well for them.