Christopher J. Smyth, a 49-year-old resident of Pineville, was sentenced on March 3, 2025, to three years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $4,616,704.76 in restitution for failing to remit taxes withheld from employees' wages at his ambulance service and obstructing the IRS's collection efforts.
Court documents reveal that from 2012 through part of 2017, Smyth operated Stat EMS LLC in Pineville. After his previous ambulance business accrued significant tax liabilities and declared bankruptcy, Smyth founded Stat EMS under a nominee owner but continued managing it similarly.
Smyth was responsible for withholding Social Security, Medicare, and income taxes from employee wages and remitting them to the IRS. However, he did not fully comply with this obligation. Instead, he used funds for personal expenses and transferred money to businesses owned by friends and family. The IRS calculated that Stat EMS owed approximately $3.3 million in unpaid taxes.
The IRS eventually assessed these unpaid taxes against Smyth personally and attempted collection efforts. When questioned by an IRS revenue officer about his tax debts, Smyth claimed he had no personal bank accounts nor used others'. In truth, he deposited paychecks into a relative's account and misled the officer about his involvement with other businesses despite having signature authority over their accounts.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Karen E. Kelly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa G. Johnston for the Southern District of West Virginia announced the sentencing.
“The jury found that Mr. Smyth failed to pay more than $4.6 million withheld from his employees’ wages and obstructed efforts to recover those withholdings,” stated Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston. “Ambulance services are critical to our communities, and Mr. Smyth repeatedly chose to jeopardize his by engaging in a 15-year scheme that was immense in its scope and scale."
The Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) led the investigation.
Assistant Chief David Zisserson along with Trial Attorneys Kavitha Bondada and Andrew Ascencio of the Tax Division prosecuted the case alongside Assistant U.S. Attorney Erik Goes for the Southern District of West Virginia.