Scrap yard owner admits to tax evasion
MARTINSBURG (AP) — An ex-railroad worker from Maryland who ran a West Virginia scrap yard while collecting disability checks has pleaded guilty to tax evasion.
Fifty-year-old Kenneth Harold Hogan of Oldtown, Md., pleaded in U.S. District Court in Martinsburg last week to a misdemeanor count of making false statements and a felony count of tax evasion.
Hogan retired with a back injury in 1995 and collected federal disability, claiming he had no income.
Prosecutors say he fraudulently collected benefits from 2006 through 2008. They say the government overpaid him more than $128,000 after he started Scrap Brothers Inc. in Paw Paw.
Under the plea bargain, Hogan admits he owes nearly $91,000 in taxes.
He could get up to five years in prison on the felony and six months on the misdemeanor when sentenced.
