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OGDEN — A former Utah dentist was sentenced to a prison term after a jury found he failed to pay nearly $2 million in taxes after evading taxes for over 15 years.
Derald Wilford Geddes, of Ogden, was sentenced to five years in a federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. Geddes was also given credit for time served while in federal custody. A federal jury convicted Geddes in March on five charges, consisting of three counts of filing a false tax return, one count of impeding the Internal Revenue Service and one count of tax evasion.
Geddes was found guilty of avoiding paying roughly $1.8 million in taxes between 1998 and 2014, according to a Friday news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. He also tried to obstruct the IRS's attempts to get him to pay taxes.
An initial charging document says Geddes submitted phony documents to the IRS, titled, a "bond to discharge attachment for debt." The documents were submitted in the hopes of resolving the tax bills and preventing the government from seizing property from Geddes. It is a type of bond that a debtor can purchase that would seek to prevent a creditor from seizing property. Though the bonds were phony, Geddes submitted this type of document multiple times.
Geddes also reported to the IRS that from 2011 to 2013, his Ogden dental office, Mount Ogden Dental, had no gross receipts, though he knew that wasn't true. Geddes had six-figure sums for the gross receipts in each of the three years, charging documents say.
Prior to his Friday sentencing, Geddes filed motions for an acquittal and for a new trial, though a judge dismissed those motions. In addition to being sentenced to prison, Geddes was also ordered to pay over $1.8 million in restitution. The court also recommended that he be sent to a federal facility on the East Coast so he can be close to family.
An online search of the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing reveals that Geddes was a licensed dentist in Utah from 1989 to 2016. His licenses have since expired. His dental office has also closed, and is different than the Mount Ogden Dental and Implant Clinic, which still operates in Ogden.
