Two men were sentenced to prison and ordered to pay back the $6 million in payroll taxes they failed to pay the federal government on behalf of an Arkansas hospital from 2009 to 2012, authorities announced Friday.
James R. Cheek, 68, of Waleska, Ga., and Herschel J. Breig Sr., 69, of Nixa, Miss., were both sentenced on one count of failure to collect or pay over tax, U.S. District Attorney Kenneth Elser said in a news release.
Cheek and Breig were both principals of Hope Medical Park Hospital and were responsible for collecting and paying the hospital's payroll taxes to the Internal Revenue Service from 2009 to 2012, the release said. They failed to pay about $6 million to the federal government during that time period, the release said.
The two men were indicted in July 2015 and pleaded guilty in September 2016. In Judge Susan O. Hickey's courtroom, Cheek and Breig were ordered to pay back the $6 million between the two of them as well as serve three years each in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
