For immediate release:    Tuesday, March 22, 2005

For more information:    Jack Magee, Chief Legal Counsel, SD Dept. of Revenue and Regulation, (605) 773-3311

(PIERRE, SD) – The owner of a Rapid City concrete business was sentenced March 18, 2005 to two years in the state penitentiary and ordered to pay restitution and other costs totaling nearly $4,200 after pleading guilty to two Class 6 felony counts of filing false or fraudulent contractors’ excise tax returns. 

Circuit Court Judge Thomas Trimble suspended the prison sentence imposed on 30-year-old Douglas Henry Franklin and ordered him placed on unsupervised probation for two years; that term will run concurrently with his current supervised probation for prior violations.  Franklin was also ordered to pay restitution of $1,126.53 in tax and interest to the State of South Dakota, prosecution costs of $3,000, and $63 in court costs. As part of his sentence, he now cannot be self-employed for five years without court approval.

Franklin was originally charged with four felony counts of filing false or fraudulent contractors’ excise tax returns for his business, Concrete Works, during 2001. The Department of Revenue and Regulation conducted an investigation into Franklin’s business affairs after receiving a tip from the Rapid City Police Department. While performing concrete work for homeowners and small businesses during that period, Franklin failed to pay the supplier for concrete which resulted in mechanic’s liens being filed on the homeowners’ property. Some homeowners paid the supplier directly to avoid having liens filed against them; prior to his sentencing, Franklin made full restitution to the state and restitution to three of the victims.

The maximum sentence Franklin could have received on the felony counts was four years in prison and/or a $4,000 fine. The case was investigated by the South Dakota Department of Revenue and Regulation’s Investigative Services Bureau and was prosecuted by special assistant attorney general James Waggoner.

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