Home framer gets prison for $2.4 million tax evasion

By Guillermo Contreras
gcontreras@express-news.net
Updated 03:40 p.m., Friday, July 29, 2011

A man who ran a San Antonio home-framing company was sentenced Friday to 30 months in prison for evading $2.4 million in taxes by trying to hide his income.

Juan R. Gonzalez, 36, headed Texas V&J Construction Inc., which boomed under the radar before the sour economy and a probe by the Internal Revenue Service dismantled the business.

Chief U.S. District Judge Fred Biery also ordered restitution and noted that, given the tax debt, Gonzalez probably made more in his business than the judge had in his lifetime.

Gonzalez apologized to taxpayers and said his four children will miss him.

Court records said Texas V&J produced gross income for Gonzalez of nearly $1.5 million in 2003, $3.1 million in 2004 and almost $4.4 million in 2005.

But he got in trouble because he'd been “structuringâ€