WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) - A former North Carolina county commissioner was sentenced on Thursday to one year and one day in prison after pleading guilty to filing false federal tax returns and failing to file a return, federal prosecutors said.
Former Forsyth County commissioner Everette Witherspoon Jr. will have to report to federal prison in October, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release. Witherspoon pleaded guilty to the charges in March.
In addition to his sentence, U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder ordered Witherspoon to pay about $211,000 in restitution.
According to prosecutors, Witherspoon filed tax returns in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 and failed to report income he made as a commissioner and under-reported income he made through his mental health company. Witherspoon also was co-owner and operator of a tax preparation service in Winston-Salem and Greensboro, and his partner, Willie Lee Cole Jr., was sentenced in January to six months in prison for failing to file his tax returns.
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