Windham Man Sentenced to One Year in Prison

A 65-year-old resident of Windham was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison today for tax evasion and conspiracy.

According to a press release, Christopher McGadden will begin serving his sentence on Nov. 8. That will be followed by two years of supervised release, a $7,500 fine and $178,735 of restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

McGadden pleaded guilty in March to the charges. U.S. District Judge William G. Young told the court that "tax violations require a prison sentence" as he imposed McGadden's sentence.

McGadden engaged in a conspiracy with Raymond Stebbins to divert monies from Xcel Fire Protection, Inc. to various corporate bank accounts. The two men used those accounts to pay themselves without reporting. Xcel is based in Salem, and is a fire protection sprinkler business.

The conspiracy began in 2000 and continued until May 2009. McGadden was a longtime General Manager of the company.

Stebbins submitted ficticious invoices to Xcel, where he allegedly billed for goods and services provided. McGadden would ensure that those bogus invoices were paid and also provided the checks in payment of the bogus invoices to Stebbins.

Neither McGadden nor Stebbins reported the funds that they received under their scheme as income on their tax returns. The profit split was 90 percent to McGadden and 10 percent to Stebbins.

The press release also noted that in addition, McGadden "separately concealed other income from the IRS that was rightfully the property of Xcel, including checks from Xcel customers and Stebbin's payroll checks."