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Watauga County Couple Arrested in State Tax Case

Last Updated on June 23, 2020 1:03 pm

A Boone couple was arrested on June 4, 2020, as a result of Wake County Grand Jury indictments for felony and misdemeanor tax charges filed by the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office on behalf of the North Carolina Department of Revenue.

Curtis Edwin Leyshon, 62, and Lisa Webb Leyshon, 58, of N. Pine Run Road, Boone, NC, were each charged on Thursday, June 4, 2020, with one count each of felony charges for Attempting to Evade or Defeat Tax, and multiple misdemeanor charges of Willful Failure to File, Pay Tax, or Supply Information.

The indictments allege that Curtis Edwin Leyshon and Lisa Webb Leyshon knowingly and willfully maintained with their employers, fraudulent Forms NC-4, claiming to be exempt from North Carolina individual income tax withholding, all in an attempt to evade or defeat the North Carolina individual income tax.  The alleged tax evasion offenses occurred from January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2014.  Additional charges of Willful Failure to File, Pay Tax, or Supply Information alleged that the Leyshons failed to file a North Carolina Individual Income Tax Return for the tax years 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017, and were required to file such returns with the North Carolina Department of Revenue every year.

The couple appeared before a Watauga County magistrate, and were placed under a secured bond of $25,000.00 each.  A first appearance was scheduled for Monday, June 8, 2020, in Wake County Superior Court in Raleigh.

The charges resulted from an investigation by special agents with the Department’s Criminal Investigations Division in Raleigh.

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