FLORIDA — The owner and office administrator of a Fort Myers roofing company have pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States by failing to pay employment taxes.
William Skaggs Jr., owner of Nastar Roofing, and Billie Adkison, the company’s office administrator, admitted to orchestrating a scheme to avoid paying employment taxes, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
According to court documents, from 2013 to 2023, Nastar Roofing employees, including Mr. Skaggs and Ms. Adkison, withdrew more than $21 million from the company’s bank accounts to pay workers in cash, bypassing requirements to withhold Social Security, Medicare, and federal income taxes. The pair also allegedly submitted false employment tax returns, omitting the cash payments.
Prosecutors said Nastar sometimes used a payroll service to issue small checks, concealing the bulk of employees’ earnings paid in cash. Both Skaggs and Adkison reportedly signed false tax returns, resulting in a $2.5 million tax loss to the IRS.
Mr. Skaggs and Ms. Adkison are scheduled for sentencing at a later date and face up to five years in prison, supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties.
The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Kevin Schneider and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Leeman.