Casper businessman sent to prison for tax violations

A Natrona County business owner was sentenced Monday to federal prison for failing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes over several years.

Esequiel “Tony” Terrazas Pacheco, 32, of Evansville, Wyoming, was ordered to serve 18 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. U.S. District Court Judge Scott W. Skavdahl handed down the sentence Feb. 3 in Casper. Pacheco was also ordered to pay $766,744.28 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

Federal prosecutors say Pacheco, the owner of Drywall Perfections, Inc. (DPI), failed to file both personal and business tax returns from 2017 through 2022. Court records show he had operated the drywall company out of his home since 2015 and never filed required corporate or personal returns.

Investigators also found that although a tax preparer completed quarterly employer tax forms for parts of 2019 through 2022, Pacheco never filed those forms or paid the taxes owed. Authorities say the business kept little to no financial records and had no meaningful bookkeeping practices.

“Mr. Terrazas Pacheco had multiple opportunities to accurately report and file his income taxes,” U.S. Attorney Darin Smith said in a statement. “Over a period of six years he willfully and knowingly defrauded the U.S. government and placed additional tax burden on the shoulders of hardworking taxpayers.”

Amanda Prestegard, Special Agent in Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Denver Field Office, said the case sends a strong message.

“His actions were motivated by greed with a complete disregard for his employees,” Prestegard said. “He is spending the next 18 months in jail and will be paying back the federal government for much longer than that.”

The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming.