Date: May 29, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov BOSTON — A former golf professional, who worked at two courses owned by the City of Springfield, was sentenced yesterday for tax fraud. Ryan McDowell of Springfield, MA was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni to 12 months of probation and restitution of $101,050 payable to the City of Springfield and $34,236 payable to the Internal Revenue Service. McDowell pleaded guilty to six counts of tax fraud in September 2018. Between 2011 and 2016, McDowell worked as an Assistant Golf Professional for a golf management company that contracted with the City of Springfield to manage its two municipal golf courses, Franconia and Veterans Memorial Golf Courses. During that time period, McDowell skimmed approximately $101,050 from golf revenues belonging to the City and then filed false tax returns each year that intentionally omitted the stolen money. McDowell’s filing of the false tax returns resulted in a federal tax loss of $34,236. Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Harry Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS CI), Boston Field Office made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Steven H. Breslow and Neil Desroches of the Springfield Branch Office prosecuted the case. CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
