Published: August 04, 2008 06:32 pm            

McDowell County pharmacist gets probation, fines

BLUEFIELD — A McDowell County pharmacist will receive no time behind bars after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court to a federal information charging him with tax evasion, conspiracy to illegally structure financial transactions and mail fraud.

In a sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge David Faber in Bluefield Tuesday, Saad Kamil Deeb, former owner of Citizens Pharmacy in Welch, received five years probation on each count, with one year of electronically controlled home confinement. He also received a $20,000 fine and a special assessment of $300 — $100 on each count, according to a court spokeswoman.

Deeb was originally indicted in November of 2006 on multiple charges related to income tax evasion and running an illegal gambling business. The indictment was dismissed on the government’s motion, the court spokeswoman said.

In count one of the information, filed March 18, Deeb was charged with conspiracy to illegally structure financial transactions. In the information, the government alleged Deeb, “together with other persons known and unknown to the grand jury,” conspired to illegally structure financial transactions at MCNB Bank and Trust Co. to avoid legal reporting requirements. The illegal transactions were alleged to have occurred from 2001 through around 2005.

In count two of the information, relating to tax evasion, the government alleged Deeb willfully attempted to evade income tax due. The information states Deeb filed a “false and fraudulent U.S. Individual Income Tax Return ... wherein he stated that his taxable income for the calendar year 2004, was the sum of $122,244, and that the amount of tax due and owning theron was the sum of $27,145, whereas, as he then and there well knew and believed, his taxable income for the said calendar year was substantially in excess of that” and that “substantial additional tax was due ...”

Count three of the information, relating to mail fraud, alleges Deeb “did knowingly devise and attempt to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud the state of West Virginia by means of false and fraudulent pretenses and representations .... by submitting false Wage Reports to the Unemployment compensation Division of the West Virginia Bureau of Employment Programs ...

“The object and purpose of the scheme and artifice was to avoid paying the full contributions due on the taxable payroll of Deeb Drug, Inc.,” the information states.

In the original indictment, which was dismissed, the government was seeking forfeiture of $1,685,200 as well as numerous cars and property from Deeb, including the Moose Lodge No. 1094 in Welch, the American Legion, a 2002 Harley-Davidson motorcycle, a 1953 Harley-Davidson motorcycle, two Lexus sport utility vehicles and one Lexus Sedan, among other items.

Had Deeb been convicted of the charges in the original indictment, he would have faced 150 years imprisonment and a fine of $7.5 million.

— Contact Samantha Perry at sperry@bdtonline.com

        

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