Date: December 15, 2022 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Greeneville, TN — On December 15, 2022, Jack D. Vicars, currently of Bluff City, Tennessee, was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison by the Honorable Clifton L. Corker, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Greeneville. As part of the plea agreement filed with the court, Vicars agreed to plead guilty to an information charging him with one count of wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343 and one count of subscribing a false tax return in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1). Following Vicars imprisonment, he will be on supervised release for three years. Vicars was also ordered to pay restitution totaling $344,650.00 on account of his theft and $33,699.44 on account of unpaid taxes. According to filed court documents, Vicars began working as a project manager for a large construction company in Johnson City, TN, and by 2018, he was promoted to the position of vice president. As part of his position and duties, he routinely oversaw projects and reviewed and approved invoices submitted by subcontractors working on those projects. Eventually, Vicars formed his own company and began submitting fraudulent invoices from his company for fictitious work that was not performed. Vicars would then use his position and authority to approve those invoices, resulting in payments issued by his employer to Vicars' company. Vicars then used the money he stole to pay for personal expenses like his personal credit cards. The fraud took place over a period spanning from 2016 through February 2021. In total, Vicars stole $344,650 from his employer. Vicars also filed a false tax return in 2019, in which he failed to disclose money he had stolen, resulting in understated income and an unpaid tax liability of $33,699.14. This prosecution was the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This investigation was led by IRS CI Special Agent Jimmy Cline and FBI Special Agent Reanna O'Hare. Assistant United States Attorney Mac D. Heavener represented the United States.
