CHARLESTON, WV—A Logan County businessman was sentenced today in federal court in Charleston to probation for three years and a $5,000 fine for filing false tax returns, U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin announced.

Gary Roeher, 52, of Holden, West Virginia, admitted that on his 2010 and 2011 federal tax returns, he illegally claimed business-expense deductions for kickbacks that he paid to an Arch Coal official at the company’s Mountain Laurel Mining Complex in Sharples, West Virginia. Roeher and the Arch Coal official stole money from Arch Coal through a dummy invoice scheme in which Roeher submitted bills for supplies that he had not provided. The Arch Coal official falsely certified that the supplies had been received, which prompted the accounting department for Arch Coal to pay the false bills. Roeher paid the Arch Coal Official kickbacks from the payments received. Roeher then deducted the kickback payments as legitimate business expenses on his 2010 and 2011 tax returns.

Between 2010 and 2011, Roeher paid the Arch Coal official more than $35,000 in kickbacks. Roeher has agreed to forfeit that amount as part of his plea agreement.

Roeher also fraudulently deducted approximately $43,000 used to install a pool at his home, claiming on his tax returns that it was a legitimate business expense. These charges stem from an investigation conducted by the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, United States Postal Inspection Service, and the West Virginia State Police. Assistant United States Attorney Meredith George Thomas is in charge of the prosecution.