Puyallup Business Manager Indicted For Tax Fraud

PUYALLUP, WA — The co-owner and financial manager of a Puyallup steel fabrication business has been indicted, accused of stealing more than one million dollars in payroll taxes.

Donna Powell, 56, co-owns and operates Pinnacle Steel Fabricators, a local company that produces several steel parts. But between 2010 and 2018, Powell, who also serves as the company's secretary, treasurer, and accounting manager, withheld $1,167,891 in payroll taxes from employees’ paychecks, but pocketed the money without paying it to the IRS— according to a recent filing from the Department of Justice.

"Over the period that Powell was failing to pay over the taxes she had withheld from employees, Pinnacle typically had sufficient funds on hand to make the required tax payments," the indictment reads. "Further, during this period, Powell and her husband made thousands of dollars of expenditures for their personal benefit."

According to court documents, Powell and her husband splurged, spending at least $32,000 to travel to Europe, Jamaica and Mexico City, $41,000 on gambling at casinos, $33,000-plus on online gaming, and $7,400 more on spa days and pool purchases.

"Failure to pay over the taxes ultimately hurts the employees whose earning records are incomplete for Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment benefits," the Department of Justice said in a news release. "Employees can report concerns about federal withholding to the IRS and records can be corrected with documentation."

Powell was indicted Thursday on nine counts of failing to pay over employment taxes. A "willful failure" to pay over employment taxes can be punished by up to five years behind bars.

Powell's will be arraigned in court on Valentine's Day, at U.S. District Court in Tacoma.