Judge defers teacher’s
guilty plea in
tax evasion case

A former physical education teacher who pleaded guilty in Circuit Court to attempted tax evasion and second-degree theft was granted a chance to wipe his record clean in five years.

Victor Jeffries, 49, now a Navy reservist, was granted a deferral of his plea for five years yesterday, but he must comply with conditions imposed by the court.

Circuit Judge Michael Town granted the deferral despite a request by Deputy Attorney General Larry Goya that he sentence Jeffries to at least a year in jail.

"The thing that weighed heavily on Judge Town was that Jeffries was in the military and that he was expected to be deployed overseas," Goya said later.

Goya had argued that Jeffries had pleaded guilty not because he felt he did wrong but because of the overwhelming evidence the state had against him.

Defense attorney Michael Park had argued that Jeffries had relied on the faulty and illegal advice of now-convicted tax preparer Richard Basuel when he filed two sets of tax returns for 1999, 2000 and 2001.

He now realizes he was wrong and takes full responsibility, Park said.

In the first set of state returns he filed, Jeffries basically claimed he had no income. The second time around, he declared income but attempted to offset that with improper deductions, Goya said.

Park described letters from Jeffries' commanding officers and previous employers thanking him for his commitment and dedication to the military, teaching and his contributions to the community.

Basuel, who at one time owned RB Tax Service, one of the largest tax preparation companies in Hawaii, is serving 10 years in state prison for filing fraudulent tax returns for clients.