U.S. Attorney’s Office – District of Oregon release – PORTLAND, Ore.—The former owner and general manager of dump truck hauling and concrete companies based in Damascus, Oregon pleaded guilty today to willfully failing to pay employment taxes despite withholding them from employee paychecks. Rebekah Joy Williams, 44, a resident of Damascus, pleaded guilty to one count of failing to pay over employment taxes. According to court documents, until the third and fourth quarters of 2017, Williams owned and operated Anbasa Transport LLC and Kelaye Conrete LLC, commercial dump truck hauling and concrete companies registered in Oregon that formerly operated in both Oregon and Washington State. As the sole owner and general manager of both companies, Williams was responsible for collecting, accounting for, and paying federal income, Medicare, and Social Security taxes (also known as FICA taxes) on behalf of her employees. Over at least a three-year period, from 2015-2017, Williams withheld these taxes from her employees’ paychecks and provided them with paystubs reflecting the withholdings. Despite doing so, IRS records showed that Williams made no payroll tax payments on behalf of either company from the third quarter of 2015 through the fourth quarter of 2017. In total, Williams failed to pay approximately $112,257 in employment taxes to the IRS. On October 19, 2021, a federal grand jury in Portland returned a 19-count indictment charging Williams with willfully failing to collect or pay over employment taxes. Williams faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine or twice her gross gains resulting from the offense, and three years of supervised release. She will be sentenced on February 14, 2023, by U.S. District Court Judge Karin J. Immergut. As part of her plea agreement, Williams has agreed to pay $725,492 in restitution to the IRS. This case was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation. It was prosecuted by Claire M. Fay, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon
