A man who worked at Springfield’s two municipal golf courses is facing punishment for stealing more than $100,000 from revenues belonging to the city and then falsifying tax documents to cover his tracks.
Ryan McDowell, 32, of Springfield was sentenced to 12 months of probation and ordered to pay restitution of more than $130,000 to the city and IRS.
Between 2011 and 2016, McDowell worked for a golf management company that was contracted by the city to oversee the Franconia and Veterans Memorial golf courses. Over those years, McDowell “skimmed” about $101,050 from the revenues of the two courses. He also filed false tax returns each year that omitted the stolen money. Those false tax returns cost the federal government $34,236, according to the acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy’s office.
McDowell pleaded guilty to six counts of tax fraud in 2018.
He now works as a realtor and at a local check cashing business, according to a sentencing memorandum. McDowell does not contest the crimes and “admitted to his role in the scheme” to government officials before even being officially charged with a crime. After pleading guilty, he had to “testify against a close friend and mentor.”
Attached to the sentencing memorandum were 13 laudatory character reference letters written by McDowell’s friends and family. Many reference his success as a realtor and the recent birth of his first child.
“While no one in life is perfect, he remained honest and took responsibility for a poor decision made,” McDowell’s brother wrote in one letter.
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