April 30, 2003

QUINCY CONTRACTORS
SENTENCED FOR TAX EVASION

Boston, MA... Two contractors who own a Quincy-based asphalt paving and road construction company were sentenced yesterday in federal court following their convictions on tax evasion charges.

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and Joseph A. Galasso, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, announced that ROBERT H. DERBES, age 68, of Quincy, Massachusetts, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns to a term of imprisonment of one year and a day. FRANK F. DERBES, age 61, also of Quincy, was sentenced by Judge Stearns to two years' probation, the first nine months of which are to be served in home detention.

FRANK and ROBERT DERBES each pleaded guilty on January 27, 2003 to six counts of tax evasion. Both are shareholders and employees of Derbes Brothers, Inc., a Quincy-based company engaged in the business of asphalt paving and road construction. For tax years 1995, 1996 and 1997, FRANK and ROBERT DERBES understated, by approximately $469,000, the business receipts reported by Derbes Brothers, Inc. on its U.S. Corporation Income Tax Returns. During the same time period, FRANK and ROBERT DERBES also caused the company to claim and deduct approximately $665,000 in false business expenses.

As a result of the foregoing conduct, FRANK and ROBERT DERBES caused Derbes Brothers' corporate tax returns to substantially understate the company's actual taxable income and the amount of tax due and owing. Through the same conduct, FRANK and ROBERT DERBES likewise caused their respective U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns for the years 1995, 1996 and 1997 to understate their personal taxable income and the amount of tax due and owing.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Pineault in Sullivan's Economic Crimes Unit.

Press Contact: Samantha Martin, (617) 748-3139