Lincoln man ordered to pay over $90,000 after failing to pay taxes

Judge John M. Gerrard sentenced Janis Strautkalns, 48, to six months in custody with an additional six months of home confinement.

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – A Lincoln man was ordered to pay over $90,000 in restitution for failing to pay the government the taxes he withheld from his employees, according to a press release from the United States Attorney’s Office.

U.S. District Judge John M. Gerrard sentenced Janis Strautkalns, 48, to six months in custody with an additional six months of home confinement.  He will then serve three years of supervised release.

Strautkalns was also ordered to pay $90,586 in restitution, $10,000 of which had been paid prior to his sentencing, according to the press release.

Strautkalns owned and ran Security and Protection Services Inc., which did business as Lincoln Guards Security Company.  He was in charge of authorizing business expenses, authorizing payment of employee paychecks and approval of payment of payroll taxes to the Internal Revenue Service.

Strautkalns was withholding taxes from employees’ paychecks, including federal income taxes and Medicare and Social Security taxes, according to the press release.

But from 2016 to 2018, he was not paying any of the taxes to the IRS.

“When a business owner collects and then fails to pay over the hard-earned money of their employees, as in the case of Mr. Strautkalns, he is essentially stealing from the future retirement benefits of his employees,” said Charles Miller, assistant special agent in charge of IRS Criminal Investigation. “Unpaid employment taxes are a substantial problem, and IRS CI will continue to pursue those employers that intend to line their own pockets by robbing from those that work for them.”