Tax Evasion

A federal grand jury handed down indictments against a Chatsworth couple for allegedly failing to pay taxes on money believed to be proceeds from an international heroin distribution ring, officials said Friday. Solomon Tekle, 46, and Lily Tekle, 38, were charged Thursday with tax evasion and filing false tax returns, adding to charges filed earlier this month. Officials said the couple understated their income by more than $1 million on 1993and 1995 federal tax returns. Assistant U.S. Atty.

The owner of two Montebello aerospace firms, one of his employees and an executive of a Tustin firm were indicted in federal court Thursday on charges of conspiracy to defraud the government and tax evasion. Joseph Kasparoff, owner and president of Super K and J. K. Precision, was indicted on seven counts of conspiracy to defraud the government and tax evasion. Harold Geyer, 69, was indicted on eight similar counts and Frank Calta, 39, president of Paul Calta and Sons Inc.

Former Newark Mayor Kenneth A. Gibson admitted avoiding about $78,000 in income tax under a plea bargain that let him avoid a retrial on accusations of business fraud. Seventeen other charges were dismissed, and Gibson was immediately sentenced to three years' probation on the single remaining felony charge. Gibson, 70, a licensed engineer, was accused of cheating the Irvington school district while managing a school construction project five years after leaving office.

A Redding tax resister who stopped paying personal income taxes in 1999 and quit withholding taxes from his employees' checks in 2000 was convicted Friday of 13 criminal tax charges with a tax loss of $256,000. Jurors acquitted Walter "Al" Thompson, 58, of a final charge of conspiring with former Internal Revenue Service special agent Joseph Banister, 41, of San Jose, who is to be tried separately in June.

A Los Angeles building contractor, who won multimillion-dollar construction contracts for municipal projects in Compton, pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges. Jose Chinchureta, who owns B & A Construction, admitted that he underreported his income for 1989 through 1992 and failed to pay $101,673 in federal taxes, Assistant U.S. Atty. John Potter said.

Lester Piggott, Britain's most famous jockey, was sentenced to three years in jail today after pleading guilty to massive tax evasion. Piggott, 51, who rode 5,000 winners in a 38-year career and is now a trainer, admitted nine charges of failing to declare income and one charge of defrauding Customs and Excise. Prosecutor Anthony Hidden told the court that Piggott, whose personal fortune is estimated at $32 million, had repaid $5.

A 48-year-old Camarillo woman was sentenced Monday to four years in state prison for forging office checks addressed to her former employer and filing a false income-tax return. Shirley Ann Jenkins listened impassively to the sentence imposed by Ventura County Superior Court Judge Frederick A. Jones. Jenkins had pleaded guilty to five counts of forgery for checks amounting to $1,200 and one count of tax evasion.