MEDFORD, Ore. — A Jacksonville man has been sentenced to 42 months in federal prison for tax evasion, employment tax violations, bank fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Joel Matthew Caswell, 32, was also ordered to serve five years of supervised release and pay $1,198,799.83 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Caswell owned and operated three logging and construction businesses that employed approximately 40 people. From 2018 through 2022, he withheld employment taxes from workers’ paychecks but willfully failed to turn the money over to the IRS.
Prosecutors said Caswell attempted to evade the taxes and other financial obligations by directing customers to make payments to another company or directly to him, moving business funds and providing false information to IRS collection officers.
Caswell also carried out multiple fraud schemes between 2022 and 2024, prosecutors said. He submitted fabricated financial records to a bank, a private lender and the U.S. Small Business Administration in an effort to obtain loans.
Among the fraudulent applications were applications for Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster loans involving his three logging and construction businesses.
According to prosecutors, Caswell transferred $70,000 in proceeds from the fraud scheme to be used as a deposit for an ultimate frisbee tournament. He also used another person’s identifying information to obtain a residential mortgage.
Caswell pleaded guilty on June 9, 2026, to three counts of tax evasion, three counts of willful failure to pay over employment taxes, one count each of bank fraud and wire fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft.
The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation, the FBI and the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management.
Assistant U.S. Attorney John C. Brassell of the District of Oregon and Trial Attorney J. Parker Gochenour of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division’s Tax Section prosecuted the case.
Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division and U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford for the District of Oregon announced the sentence.
The Justice Department announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division on April 7. The division’s mission includes investigating and prosecuting the theft or fraudulent misuse of taxpayer funds.
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