North Providence Dentist Sentenced For Tax Evasion

PROVIDENCE, RI – A North Providence dentist who admitted to diverting and failing to report as much as $1.2 million dollars in payments made to his business was sentenced yesterday to 3 years probation and 280 hours per year of community service involving the provision of free dental care.

At sentencing, U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith also ordered Lawrence P. Stephenson, 72, of Lincoln, to pay a fine of $75,000.

The U.S. Sentencing Guidelines range of imprisonment in this matter is 18-24 months. The government recommended the Court impose a sentence of 18 months in prison.

Stephenson’s sentence is announced by United States Attorney Stephen G. Dambruch and Kristina O'Connell, Special Agent in Charge of Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).

At the time of his guilty plea, Stephenson admitted to the Court that in as early as 2011, he began diverting portions of his practice’s business receipts by depositing checks from insurance carriers and patients into a personal bank account. An investigation by IRS-CI revealed that Stephenson failed to report approximately $1.2 million dollars paid to his dental practice and deposited elsewhere, thus failing to pay taxes due the IRS.

Stephenson admitted that over the years he made significant withdrawals from the personal account, to include approximately $530,000 in 2013 and 2014. The funds were transferred to other banks and investment accounts he owned. Some of the funds were used to pay personal expenses.

In 2013 alone, Stephenson admitted to underreporting his income to the IRS by more than $320,000.

Since the date of Stephenson’s guilty plea and conviction, he has paid $906,557.78 in back taxes and penalties due the IRS for tax years 2011-2014.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dulce Donovan.