PRESS RELEASE
CONTACT: James K. Vines
United States Attorney
William M. Cohen
Assistant U.S. Attorney
HENDERSONVILLE MAN SENTENCED ON TAX CHARGES
Nashville, TN - April 12, 2002 - James K. Vines, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, and Clayton L. Cooper, Special Agent in Charge, IRS-Criminal Investigation Nashville Field Office, announced that Jeffery W. Brinkman was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Todd J. Campbell to serve 12 months in prison followed by two years supervised release. Brinkman was also ordered to pay restitution to the IRS of $107,667.70 and $442,153.79 to the doctor he embezzled from but was to be given credit for the amounts of restitution he had already paid.
Brinkman pled guilty on September 14, 2001, to one count of income tax evasion for the calendar year 1995. According to testimony during the plea hearing, Brinkman was the office manager for a local physician and from 1990 until he was fired in 1996, Brinkman embezzled more than $440,000 from his employer. Brinkman failed to report this embezzlement income on his federal income tax returns.
Brinkman admitted that he made unauthorized personal charges on the doctor's corporate credit card, misappropriated insurance checks and cash payments made by clients, and wrote unauthorized checks on the doctor's personal bank account for his own benefit. In order to avoid detection, Brinkman also set up a post office box to receive the doctor's credit card bills containing the unauthorized charges. He also misused the doctor's patient chart signature stamp to endorse checks and altered bills before they were presented to the doctor for approval.
This case was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney William M. Cohen prosecuted the case for the government.