JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Two men with ties to multiple Jacksonville roofing companies will have to pay millions in restitution as they face up to 20 years in federal prison on mail and wire fraud charges
Travis Morgan Slaughter and Tripp Charles Slaughter have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit tax fraud, according to the Department of Justice.
They each face a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison for the tax fraud offense and up to 20 years imprisonment for the mail and wire fraud offense. A sentencing date has not been set.
According to the DOJ, the two men will pay restitution or forfeit the following:
"Travis Slaughter has agreed to forfeit to the United States $2,780,947 in proceeds he obtained from the mail and wire fraud offense and to pay restitution of $6,768,612 for the payroll tax loss, $2,780,947 for unpaid workers’ compensation insurance premiums, and $271,217 for two paid workers’ compensation claims.
Tripp Slaughter has agreed to forfeit to the United States $416,800 in proceeds he obtained from the mail and wire fraud offense and to pay restitution of $623,269 for the payroll tax loss, $416,800 for unpaid workers’ compensation insurance premiums, and $137,778 for a paid workers’ compensation claim."
The Slaughters operated a roofing business in Jacksonville since 2007, first under the name Great White Construction, then Florida Roofing Experts, and then 5 Star Roofing Services. Each business operated similarly, banked at the same financial institutions and employed the same employees, investigators said.
The company contracted with professional employer organizations (PEOs) to prepare payroll checks for employees, after making deductions for payroll taxes, file payroll tax returns and forward tax payments to governmental authorities, but the company did not provide the PEOs with information about all the hours worked by, or wages due for its employees., according to DOJ.
The company also paid the employees directly with separate checks, meaning the company avoided paying the full amount of payroll taxes due to the Internal Revenue Service, the DOJ said.
During the period of January 2017 through July 2020, the PEOs issued payroll checks to the employees totaling approximately $4.9 million after deducting and paying over to the IRS the payroll taxes due, a DOJ release said. During that same period, the company issued checks to the employees totaling approximately $18.5 million with no payroll taxes being deducted or paid. The total unpaid payroll taxes on that amount were $2.7 million.
The DOJ said for the tax years 2014-2019, the total unpaid taxes due on Travis Slaughter’s unreported income totaled $2.4 million. For the tax years 2015-2019, the total unpaid taxes due on Tripp Slaughter’s unreported income totaled $263,614.
This case was investigated by the IRS – Criminal Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, Housing and Urban Development – Office of Inspector General and the Florida Department of Financial Services.
