Former Stoneham cop sentenced on federal tax conviction
Published on October 20th, 1999
STONEHAM, MA - Windowless Courtroom 21 at the ostentatious U.S. District Court in Boston was almost silent Tuesday afternoon as a handful of people listened to Judge Richard Stearns sentence former Stoneham police detective Richard McDonough to three years probation for tax evasion.
Cooperation with authorities over the period of months between his conviction and sentencing helped McDonough to earn a light sentence.
"I don't think you'll have much to say," Stearns said to McDonough's attorney, Thomas Hoopes of Hoopes and Associates of Boston, after the prosecution made its request for probation with no fines.
McDonough pled guilty to six counts of tax evasion on March 11. According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Victor Wild, the amount of unpaid taxes stemming from income earned in a used car side-business totaled near $38,000 at the time of the indictment, but the figure had grown, due to interest and penalties, to near $100,000.
Stearns agreed with the recommendations made by the government to put McDonough on probation for three years, prohibit him to possess firearms, direct him to resolve any other pending matters with the Internal Revenue Service within 30 days, and pay $400 in court fees on the spot. And McDonough must make his financial records available to his probation officer upon request. Drug testing was waived.
No fines were requested for three apparent reasons:
McDonough recently settled other smaller matters pending with the IRS and made a lump sum payment of approximately $100,000, Wild told the Court.
Also, Hoopes argued that a fine would be excessive under the circumstances — McDonough incurred a $100,000 loan from a relative to pay back the IRS.
But most important, "McDonough has been very cooperative with the government...extremely helpful with a myriad other matters," Wild said.
When asked if he could comment on how or on which matters McDonough had been helpful, Wild would not comment.
McDonough, who had a good service record with the Stoneham Police Department from 1973 through 1997, did not wish to make any comment. He has since moved North.
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