DAYTON - A federal grand jury here has charged Mark W. May, age 41, of Xenia, Ohio with tax evasion and payroll tax crimes in a six-count indictment returned today.

Gregory G. Lockhart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Eileen J. O'Connor, Assistant Attorney General of the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice; and Cromwell Handy, Special Agent in Charge, Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service; announced the indictment.

The grand jury alleges that May failed to account for and pay over $514,842 in payroll taxes of Maranatha Financial Group, Inc., Centerville, Ohio, to the Internal Revenue Service for four quarters of 1996.

The indictment also charges him with evading the payment of his 1995 and 1996 taxes by fraudulently claiming a refund and reducing his tax liability by claiming credit for over $194,000 in withholding payments by Maranatha Financial Group, Inc., that he did not pay over to the Internal Revenue Service.

"According to the indictment, May created and used USA Trust, with his wife as sole beneficiary, and vested title in their residence at 380 Fairground Road, Xenia, Ohio, solely in his wife's name, to impede the collection efforts of the Internal Revenue Service," Lockhart said.

The maximum penalty for each count is five years' imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.

Lockhart commended the IRS Criminal Investigation Division for their investigation and the Department of Justice Tax Division which is prosecuting the case.