Pennsylvania Roofing Contractor Sentenced to Prison for Failing to Pay Payroll Taxes

SCRANTON, Pa. — A roofing contractor who pled guilty in February to failing to collect and pay nearly $186,000 in federal payroll taxes has been sentenced to prison.

Charles R. Ehrenberg, owner of Ehrenberg Roofing and Construction Inc. in Hazleton, Pa., was sentenced on Monday by U. S. District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion to six months’ imprisonment, to be followed by six months’ home confinement with electronic monitoring and a two-year term of supervised release.

According to U.S. Attorney John C. Gurganus, Ehrenberg, 34, willfully failed to collect and pay over to the IRS required federal payroll taxes in the total amount of $185,681.90 from 2017 to 2020. Ehrenberg paid his labor force, comprised mostly of undocumented immigrants, an all-cash wage and failed to properly account for and pay required payroll taxes. As a result, Ehrenberg "deprived the government of substantial tax revenue."

At the sentencing, Ehrenberg was also ordered to make restitution to the IRS in the amount of $185,681.90.

The maximum penalty under federal law for this offense is five years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine.