The owner of a Happy Valley-based company that did tree removal and landscaping was sentenced Wednesday to a year and three months in federal prison for failing to pay over $3.5 million in taxes over seven years ending in 2024.
Joyce Leard, 54, pled guilty to failing to pay employment taxes on behalf of Mr. Tree Inc. The company advertised that it had been in business for over 20 years and employed 50 to 75 people annually.
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Leard withheld taxes from her employees’ wages from 2017 to 2024 but failed to pay the IRS or file quarterly payroll tax returns, according to prosecutors.
According to Megan E. Wessel, a lawyer for the United States Department of Justice, she instead used the money to purchase around $3.5 million in real estate in her name. She also failed to file personal income tax returns between 2017 and 2023, according to Wessel.
Wessel urged the judge to sentence Leard to two and a half years in jail and require her to pay $2.9 million in restitution, which represents the amount of federal tax owed minus payments already made by Leard.
Leard failed to “fulfill serious legal obligations for many years, and it should carry serious consequences,” Wessel added.
“In addition to stealing money from the United States, Defendant put her employees in detrimental positions by leading them to believe they had paid taxes when they had not. Instead of receiving their expected tax refunds, many of them were faced with substantial tax liabilities and were forced to pay out of pocket,” Wessel wrote to the court.
According to defense attorney Janet Hoffman, Leard has had a personality issue from childhood, as well as depression.
She was also incredibly chaotic, with a 2-foot wall of documents piled on her desk, and unable to handle her business correctly, resulting in “this total disaster,” according to Hoffman.
Leard wanted to pay taxes but “didn’t know how to get from A to B,” Hoffman claimed.
Hoffman and co-counsel Scott Mullins advocated for Leard’s home detention and mental health therapy.
She had already lost her reputation, according to Hoffman, “but this sentence could be a turning point and make a difference for her.”
U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut imposed the 15-month sentence, determining that the crime required a jail sentence to deter Leard and others from undermining the country’s tax system.
Immergut said she thought about Leard’s mental health and decision to plead guilty in the case but stated, “The fact that she was ‘incompetent in her job,’ to me, is not a legitimate excuse to carry the day to get out of prison.”
The judge directed Leard to surrender to federal marshals on April 2 to begin serving her sentence and pay the remaining reparations.
