Pastor sentenced for helping prepare false tax return

PORTLAND — A Vancouver pastor was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to five months in prison for aiding in the preparation of a false tax return.

Maximo Garza, 47, pastor of the nondenominational Victory Outreach Church in Portland, pleaded guilty before Judge Garr King last September to providing false expense invoices to William Thompson. Thompson had been operating a mail-order divorce service using the name Hallwood, Inc., according to federal prosecutors.

Prosecutors allege the invoices purported to reflect public relations and other services provided by the church. Thompson used the false invoices to take deductions on tax returns filed by Hallwood, Inc. to fraudulently reduce his tax liability. Thompson pleaded guilty to tax evasion and was sentenced to a prison term in 2007.

In order to create a paper trail for the false transactions, Thompson would give checks to Garza purporting to be for payment for public relations and other services. Garza would then deposit the checks into special accounts set up for this purpose, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Garza would retain 5 to 10 percent of the amount of the checks as a fee and return the balance to Thompson. Between 2001 and 2003, Garza provided invoices reflecting a total of $735,441 in false business expenses, which Thompson claimed on Hallwood, Inc. corporate tax returns. The false documents enabled Thompson to evade an estimated $220,345 in federal taxes.

Garza also assisted Thompson in disguising the purchase of a Jaguar automobile using Thompson’s funds, which had been deposited in one of the special church accounts.

Last September, Garza was suspended from his senior pastor duties for at least four months and has also restricted his financial responsibilities.

After serving his prison sentence, Garza will be on supervised release for a year.