PORTLAND, Maine — A Brunswick man was sentenced Monday to four months in prison, followed by a year of supervised release on a tax fraud charge, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
David E. Robinson, 79, was found guilty in April following a jury-waived trial with co-conspirator F. William Messier of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. by impeding and impairing the Internal Revenue Services, according to information filed on the court’s electronic case filing system.
Robinson was ordered to report to federal prison on Nov. 5.
U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby also ordered Robinson to serve the first four months of his supervised release under home confinement.
In imposing the sentence, the judge said that the notion that people do not have to pay federal taxes “is a fantasy,” the U.S. attorney’s office said in a press release issued following the sentencing.
Messier, 71, of Brunswick was sentenced in August to a year and a day in federal prison, according to a previously published report. His date to report to federal prison was extended from Sept. 25 to Nov. 9 in order to give him time to sell property to pay his taxes, according to court documents.
Messier, doing business as Oak Hill Communications, earned substantial income on leases from telecommunication towers located on his Brunswick property, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. In 2012, after the IRS assessed taxes and interest against Messier totaling $172,094 for the tax years 2000 to 2004, Messier enlisted the help of Robinson, who had written several books promoting anti-government and “sovereign citizen” theories.
After the IRS sent Notices of Levy to Messier’s customers, Robinson and Messier took a number of steps to obstruct and impede the IRS in the collection of the assessment against Messier, including presenting the IRS with a fake and worthless money order for the amount due by Messier, according to court documents. They also sent harassing and misleading correspondence to Messier’s customers falsely stating that the customers would be breaking the law if they cooperated with the IRS.
Robinson, who claimed to be Interim Attorney General of the Maine Republic Free State, drafted and filed two frivolous lawsuits on behalf of himself and Messier against some of Messier’s customers and against employees of the IRS.
These lawsuits were dismissed in separate proceedings, according to the federal prosecutor’s office.
Both men faced up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.