1:12 PM, Mar. 14, 2012 

http://www.newarkadvocate.com/article/20120314/NEWS01/120314005

COLUMBUS -- A Newark man was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for lying on tax forms and laundering $2.3 million stolen from U.S. Bridge.

Shaun A. Clark, 33, last known address 279 Auburn Drive, was sentenced Wednesday after he had pleaded guilty to one count of willfully filing a fraudulent federal income tax return with the Internal Revenue Service and two counts of money laundering.

Between 2008 and 2009, Clark embezzled substantial sums from his employers and did not account for the increased income in his tax filings, according to court filings.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Algenon Marbley sentenced Clark to four years and nine months in prison and three years of supervised release then ordered him to pay fines and $1.14 million in restitution to U.S. Bridge and the IRS.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Brown had requested a 68-month sentence; defense attorney Diane Menashe had asked for a term of 37 months and one day, according to court filings.

In early 2008, Clark embezzled two checks totaling $24,450 from his employer, The Scotts Co. in Marysville, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office news release.

Between April 2008 and September 2009, Clark embezzled about $2.31 million from the Ohio Bridge Corp., also known as U.S. Bridge, where he worked as a controller, according to the news release.

As a controller, Clark was in charge of transferring funds to a payroll company and suppliers, but moved the money to a personal account instead, according to the news release.

Clark attempted to cover his tracks by falsifying ledgers, financial statements and his personal income tax filing.

On March 16, 2009, Clark listed his annual income at $255,831 -- almost $1 million less than his actual income of $1.25 million, according to court records. This shorted the IRS $336,028, according to the news release.

“Clark put his mind, his talents, his education and his experience to the task of producing criminal results,” Brown wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

He also wrote two checks with stolen money: one to Ohio State University for $100,000 for Buckeye Club season tickets to football games on Dec. 23, 2008; and another for more than $89,000 to Germain Lexus on March 18, 2009, according to court records.

Ohio State paid back the $100,000 in donations. Marshall University and the Big Green Foundation, which received $72,500 for an endowment, scholarships and use of a luxury box, declined to return the money, according to documents reviewed by the Herald-Dispatch in Huntington W.Va.

During the investigation, the IRS seized about $101,000 from Clark’s account, a Chevrolet Tahoe and a boat purchased with embezzled funds. The proceeds from the items were returned to U.S. Bridge, according to the news release.

Ohio Bridge Corp. settled a civil lawsuit against Clark in Guernsey County. Clark was ordered to pay $830,400 to the company, according to court records.

Clark started repaying Ohio Bridge in September 2009 after admitting to executives that he had stolen the money, Menashe wrote in a sentencing memorandum. As of Jan. 27, Clark owed $570,500 of the original loss to Ohio Bridge, Menashe wrote.

“Shaun has intense remorse for his actions in this case and has accepted responsibility for his wrongdoings,” she wrote.

Clark was previously convicted for money laundering in the late ’90s. Clark, formerly of West Virginia, embezzled from his former employer, Huntington National Bank, from March 1998 to October 1998, according to court records. He was sentenced to three days of community confinement and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and $32,600 restitution, according to court records.