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Fairfield County Landscaper Sentenced For Filing False Return Owes $150K

A former landscaper based out of Norwalk is heading to prison and owes more than $150,000 to the IRS after being busted for filing false tax returns and underreporting employee wages for several years.

U.S. District Court in New Haven.

U.S. District Court in New Haven.

Photo Credit: Google Maps

John Durham, the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut announced that Norwalk resident Candido “Candide” Valadares, 57, has been sentenced to two months in prison, followed by a year of supervised release after underreporting hundreds of thousands of dollars involving a pair of Fairfield County businesses he ran.

Valadares pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false tax report in November last year.

According to court documents and statements that were made in court, Valadares, the operator of Candide’s Landscaping and Water Gardens and Candide Contractor and Natural Pools, deposited receipts from his businesses into both his business and personal bank accounts.  He also substantially underreported employee wages by paying certain employee wages out of his personal accounts.

Durham stated that Valadares knew that the profit-and-loss statements did not reflect all revenues deposited in his business or personal accounts when preparing his taxes and “substantially underreported payroll.”

In total, Valadares’ federal tax returns for 2009, 2010 and 2011 tax years underreported $488,182 in gross receipts, underreported his business payroll by approximately $350,000, and resulted in a loss of $165,763.52 to the U.S. Treasury.

As part of his sentence, Valadares is required to pay $165,763.52 in restitution and must “cooperate with the IRS to pay any additional civil penalties and interest that have accrued on his unpaid taxes.” 

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