CAMPBELL – A judge on Tuesday sentenced the head of a South Bay home care company to a year and a day in federal prison for not paying employment taxes to the IRS, prosecutors said.
Shane Brightpath Mike, 53, of Bishop, Calif., pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of failure to pay over employment tax, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Mike was the owner, president and chief operating officer of Excel Behavioral Services Inc., a Campbell-based business that provided home care to people with disabilities.
Prosecutors said Mike was responsible for withholding Social Security, Medicare and income taxes from his employees’ wages and paying over those funds to the IRS.
However, for the third quarter of 2014, Mike only paid part of the taxes, and from the fourth quarter of 2014 through the third quarter of 2015, he did not pay any of the taxes, according to prosecutors.
In total, Mike failed to pay more than $1 million in taxes, prosecutors said, adding that he also used company funds during those five quarters to pay his personal expenses.
According to prosecutors, Mike also filed false personal income tax returns for tax years 2014 and 2015. He claimed credit for federal tax withholdings from wages he received from Excel, knowing that the withholdings had not been paid to the IRS.
In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman ordered Mike to serve three years of supervised release and pay $1,177,947 in restitution to the United States.
Mike is scheduled to begin serving his prison sentence on March 18, prosecutors said.