July 20, 2004
PRESS RELEASE

FORMER NORTH ANDOVER SELECTMAN
PLEADS GUILTY TO TAX EVASION

Boston, MA... A former Town Selectman from North Andover pleaded guilty today in federal court to charges of tax evasion

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan; Joseph A. Galasso, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation; and Kenneth W. Kaiser, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced that JOHN LEEMAN, age 46, pleaded guilty today before Chief U.S. District Judge William G. Young to a three-count Superseding Information charging him with federal income tax evasion.

At today's plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that, had the case proceeded to trial, the evidence would have proven that LEEMAN, as Comptroller for Charles Construction Company, Inc. and M.C. Andrews Company, Inc., embezzled funds from those companies by issuing checks on behalf of the companies to third parties and forging the authorizing signatures on those checks. LEEMAN then cashed the checks that he issued on behalf of the companies by forging the signatures of the third party payees and presenting the checks to the bank without the knowledge and consent of the payees. LEEMAN used the proceeds from the cashed checks for his personal benefit. LEEMAN embezzled more than $835,000 from tax years 1997 through 1999 and paid no federal taxes on the money. Based on the amount of embezzled funds, the Government contends that LEEMAN owes $352,624 in federal taxes

Chief Judge Young scheduled sentencing for September 20, 2004, at 2:00 p.m. LEEMAN faces a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison on each of the three tax evasion charges. In addition, LEEMAN could be ordered to pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service in the amount of $352,624 and to Charles Construction Company, Inc. and M.C. Andrews Company, Inc. in the total amount of $1,275,000.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Schulman in Sullivan's Public Corruption and Special Prosecutions Unit.

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