Businessman pleads guilty to tax evasion

A Fayette County man who ran a telemarketing business pleaded guilty to four counts of intentionally filing false income tax returns.

Frederick Ziegler III, 45, of Chalk Hill, also entered a no-contest plea Wednesday to one count of bank fraud involving a credit card scheme.

In a plea agreement, Ziegler will serve between 15 and 18 months in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Prosecutors contended that Ziegler, the owner of Commonwealth Marketing Group, had listed as business expenses a number of personal expenses, including more than $5,000 worth of work done on the furnace at his home and a real estate purchase. He also claimed as business expenses the installation of a security system at his mother's home, the purchase of a vintage Corvette and taxidermy work on a bear he shot in Alaska.

Sentencing is scheduled for May 14.

Prosecutors also asserted that Ziegler targeted poor people with little credit for vacation packages that marketed Visa credit cards. The consumers, however, weren't told the Visa card credit limit was so low that $13 in credit was available once the vacation was charged and the annual fee for the card was deducted.

The prosecution further contended that Ziegler's firm sent false financial information to the bank issuing the credit cards, sent the credit cards to customers who had declined to participate and falsely inflated the annual income of customers at times to qualify them for the credit card.

Ziegler's business generated more than $700,000 in fees in connection with the credit card marketing program, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.