Citrus farm labor contractor indicted on federal charges.

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 22, 1996--U.S. Attorney Nora Manella announced that a federal grand jury returned a seven-count indictment Thursday charging Leobardo De Los Santos, 65, Thermal, Calif., with subscribing to false statements in tax returns, making false statements to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and witness tampering.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Alicia Villarreal, who is prosecuting the case, the indictment alleges that the defendant substantially understated his business gross receipts on his federal tax returns for tax years 1989 through 1991.

The indictment further alleges that to reduce his tax liability, De Los Santos submitted three letters to the IRS that contained false statements by third parties indicating that De Los Santos had given them each cash payments totaling $187,000 during 1989 to 1991.

De Los Santos is also alleged to have attempted to persuade a witness, who had signed one of the letters, to lie to federal authorities by falsely stating that he had received $90,000 in cash in 1989-90 from defendant De Los Santos when in fact he had not received any cash payments from the defendant.

This case is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, Riverside, Calif.

The defendant is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday, Sept. 9, 1996, at 10:30 a.m.

CONTACT: Carole Levitzky, 213/894-6947