BOSTON, July 19, 2016— A Massachusetts couple has been indicted on charges they failed to file tax returns reporting more than $2 million in income and then filed false returns upon learning they were under investigation by the state’s Department of Revenue, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

HARRY WEBSTER (D.O.B. 2/26/62) of Canton is expected to be arraigned tomorrow in Suffolk Superior Court.  Harry Webster is charged with six counts of failure to timely file an income tax return, six counts of filing a false tax return, two counts of larceny over $250, and two counts larceny over $250 by scheme for allegedly stealing more than $400,000 from his former employer in East Boston.  His wife, NANCY WEBSTER (D.O.B. 2/21/57) of Hyde Park, is to be arraigned on five counts of filing a false tax return.

“These indictments allege thefts not just from a Boston-based business, but from the people of Massachusetts,” Conley said. “Thanks to the early investigative efforts of the state’s Department of Revenue, this complex scheme has been unraveled and we’re one step closer to holding these defendants accountable.”

According to prosecutors, Harry Webster worked from 1998 to 2011 as general manager of Tuckerman Steel, an East Boston steel fabricator.  Abetted by his control over the company’s daily operations and finances, he allegedly accepted kickbacks from a subcontractor and funneled them to Seacoast Engineering & Design, a shell company he controlled; caused Tuckerman Steel to issue unauthorized checks to Seacoast Engineering & Design; and paid himself unauthorized bonuses.  In total, he is accused of stealing more than $400,000 from the company between 2006 and 2011, when his employment ended.

During the time Harry Webster worked for the Tuckerman Steel, he and Nancy Webster lived in Durham, N.H., and were required to file Massachusetts non-resident tax returns on the income he earned while working in Massachusetts.  From 2006 to 2011, however, the couple did not file Massachusetts tax returns.  After learning that the Massachusetts Department of Revenue was investigating their alleged tax evasion, the Websters submitted non-resident tax returns for those years – but claimed allegedly phony deductions, false business losses, and failed to report large portions of their income, prosecutors said.  As a result, the Websters reported a tax liability of $36,962 – rather than the $116,726 that the DOR estimated that they owed.

The case was investigated by the Criminal Investigations Bureau of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue.  Assistant District Attorney Michele Granda, chief of the DA’s Special Prosecutions Unit, led the grand jury investigation that resulted in these indictments.  Arraignment is scheduled to take place tomorrow in the Magistrate’s Session of Suffolk Superior Court.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.