PRESIDENT OF FUNERAL HOME FOUND GUILTY OF FAILING TO REMIT WITHHOLDING TAXES

Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. and State Comptroller William Donald Schaefer jointly announced today that Franklin C. Showell, 62, the president of Nutter Funeral Homes, Inc., located at 2501 Gwynn Falls Road, in Baltimore City, was found guilty in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County by the Honorable Joseph P. Manck of failure to remit withholding taxes. Showell entered an "Alford" plea in which he acknowledged the State had sufficient evidence with which to convict him beyond a reasonable doubt, and which has been held by the Supreme Court to be the equivalent of a guilty plea.

In 1987, Showell applied on behalf of Nutter Funeral Homes, Inc. for a combined registration business license to withhold taxes from employee wages and the payment of unemployment tax. As president of the corporation, he was responsible for reporting and remitting withholding taxes to the Comptroller. Between February 2000 and March 2001, Showell failed to remit $34,943.40 in withholding tax that he reported was due to the Comptroller.

Sentencing is scheduled for March 18. The maximum penalty for failure to remit withholding taxes is up to five years’ incarceration and a fine of up to $5,000.
“ This case is part of an ongoing partnership with the Comptroller’s Office to hold delinquent taxpayers with the largest unresolved tax liabilities criminally responsible when all efforts at collections by the Comptroller have failed,” Attorney General Curran said.

The case was referred by the Compliance Division of the Comptroller’s Office, investigated by the Maryland State Police, and prosecuted by Criminal Investigations Division of the Attorney General’s Office.

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