A judge yesterday sent Washington County, Pa., business owner George Retos Jr. to federal prison for a year and a day for conspiracy to defraud the IRS and filing a false bankruptcy declaration in connection with his companies, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. U.S. District Judge Arthur Schwab also gave Retos a two-year probationary term when he gets out. Retos, owner of Prime Plastics and Plastic Power in Washington, Pa., had pleaded guilty last year. In addition to the IRS and bankruptcy frauds, he had accepted responsibility for a wire fraud charge in another scheme to fleece Pennsylvania's unemployment compensation system. He did not plead to that charge, but in federal court defendants acknowledge the conduct described in additional counts even if they don't plead, which can then be used at sentencing. Retos and a person identified in court records only as N.R., the nominal president of Plastic Power acting solely at Retos' direction, failed to pay the IRS payroll and employer taxes for the two plastics companies.
