Denver Business Owner Convicted Of Stealing From Company's 401(K)

DENVER (CBS4) - A Denver man was found guilty on Monday for failure to pay taxes and theft from an employee benefit plan, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the Internal Revenue Service, and the U.S. Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration.

John C. Walshe, 66, was immediately taken into custody by the United States Marshals and is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 27.

Walshe was the owner of Finzer Business Systems of Colorado, Inc.

"Walshe willfully failed to pay the Internal Revenue Service the $912,287 in federal income taxes, Social Security taxes, and Medicare taxes withheld from the paychecks of Finzer employees. The employer matching portion he failed to pay to the IRS was $418,047 making the grand total of over $1.3 million in taxes owed to the IRS," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement.

Authorities said Walshe also took $18,853 from his company's 401(k) Plan.

"Walshe withheld money from employees' pay checks that the employee elected to be paid to their 401(k) Plan; however, Walshe failed to pay this money over plan," the attorney's office said.

Walshe faces 5 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine for failure to pay taxes and 5 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine for theft from an employee benefit plan.