Date: April 13, 2022 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov BOSTON — A West Springfield man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Springfield to embezzling of over $1.4 million from his employer. Gerald Burke pleaded guilty to eight counts of bank fraud, two counts of mail fraud and three counts of filing a false tax return. U.S. District Court Judge Mark A. Mastroianni scheduled sentencing for July 27, 2022. Burke was charged on April 8, 2022. Until 2018, Burke was employed as the controller of a privately owned metal stamping company in Chicopee and was responsible for the company's finances, including directing payroll and signing checks on behalf of the company. From October 2011 until his termination in 2018, Burke embezzled $1.4 million by authorizing additional payroll payments to himself and by writing checks to himself and his credit card company from the company account. Burke failed to report any of his illegal income to the IRS over the nearly seven-year duration of the embezzlement scheme, thereby evading more than $160,000 in federal taxes. The charge of bank fraud provides for a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, five years of supervised release, a fine of up to $1 million, restitution and forfeiture. The charge of mail fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000, restitution and forfeiture. The charge of filing a false tax return provides for a sentence of up to three years in prison, one year of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000, restitution and forfeiture. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case. United States Attorney Rachel S. Rollins; Joleen D. Simpson, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation in Boston; and Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Morgan of Rollins' Springfield Branch Office is prosecuting the case.
