65-year-old Shorewood man is sentenced for tax evasion

Last update: March 12, 2008 - 8:51 PM

A Shorewood man who did not pay more than $100,000 in federal taxes, interest and penalties he owed from 1996 to 2000 will lose his freedom for more than a year as punishment.

David M. Turpin, 65, was sentenced Monday to one year and one day by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeanne Graham in Minneapolis. Turpin had sought probation, court documents show, saying his wife was having health troubles.

Turpin pleaded guilty in October to failing to file federal tax returns for two of the five years in question, 1999 and 2000, on income of about $180,000 per year.

Court documents also show that he failed to file returns in the three preceding years, leaving unpaid a total tax obligation for 1996-2000 of more than $100,000.

Graham has recommended that Turpin serve his time in the Scott County workhouse, be allowed to go to work each day and return to the workhouse at night, said his defense attorney, Tom Brever. Turpin works at a restaurant in the west metro area, Brever said.

Turpin has 30 days to report for sentencing. He can cut his workhouse time by as many as 50 days with good behavior, Brever said.

PAUL WALSH

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