TYLER, Texas (LAWFUEL) – Cowles & Thompson, P.C., is proud to announce that firm associate Kyna Roberts has been selected to the 22nd class of Leadership Tyler.

Leadership Tyler is designed to help participants understand the critical issues affecting the region, and develop the leadership and stewardship skills necessary to resolve them.

Each year, the nine-month program includes 35 individuals from the public, private and non-profit sectors of Tyler business and government. Members are selected based on their commitment to civic involvement and the Tyler community, potential for community leadership, and professional as well as personal achievement.

A member of the Smith County Bar Association’s Board of Directors, Ms. Roberts practices in the Tyler office of Cowles & Thompson. Her practice is devoted primarily to issues of medical malpractice and tort defense, and she has represented Northeast Texas-area hospitals in more than 100 medical malpractice and personal injury lawsuits.

Ms. Roberts recently was highlighted on the 2008 Texas Rising Stars listing of the state’s top young lawyers. She earned her B.A. degree, summa cum laude, in 2000 from Hardin-Simmons University. She earned her law degree, magna cum laude, in 2003 from Oklahoma City University School of Law, where she was a member of Phi Alpha Delta legal fraternity.

Cowles & Thompson, P.C., is a full-service law firm with offices in Dallas and Tyler, Texas. For more than 30 years, Cowles & Thompson has represented clients from across the nation in high-stakes litigation, providing effective, creative, and efficient solutions for clients’ most complex problems. For more information visit www.cowlesthompson.com.

DENVER (LAWFUEL) – Troy A. Eid, U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado, and Christopher M. Sigerson, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, announced that Laddie Livingston, age 67, of Paonia, Colorado, pled guilty yesterday before U.S. District Court Judge Walker D. Miller to a one count Information which charged him with filing a false tax return for 2002. Livingston remains free on bond.

Laddie Livingston was charged by Information on March 28, 2008. He pled guilty on September 10, 2008, and is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Miller on December 2, 2008 at 9:00 a.m.

According to the Information charging document, as well as the stipulated facts outline in the defendant’s plea agreement, prior to 1998 Laddie Livingston served for a substantial period of time as the Superintendent of the Delta County, Colorado School District. The defendant formally retired from the position in approximately 1998, and became eligible to receive retirement benefits administered by the Public Employees Retirement Association of the State of Colorado (PERA). Subsequent to his retirement, Livingston continued to function in the role of the Delta County School District’s superintendent. He continued in that capacity until September 2004.

In January 2001 the defendant directed the School District’s business manager to issue his compensation checks directly to him. Over the course of 2001, Livingston caused the School District to issue eleven such checks to him, totaling $31,725, which he used for his personal benefit. During 2002, the defendant caused the School District to issue twelve checks to him totaling $112,250, which he similarly deposited and used. And in 2003, the defendant caused the School District to issue twelve checks to him, totaling $90,262.50, which he deposited and used for personal expenses. Because the defendant took possession of these checks, none of the compensation that the defendant received from the School District was in fact, deferred income. Thus, the defendant was required to report the checks as income, and pay taxes on the funds in the years that he had received them.

Additionally, in March and August 2002, Livingston received as early retirement bonuses totaling $90,750. Although these payments were required to be reported as income, the defendant directed the School District’s business manager not to issue and file an IRS Form 1099 reporting these payments to the IRS. As a result of these omissions, the defendant filed returns which failed to report income totaling $335,087.50, with a tax obligation of $133,651.

“No public official, at any level of government, is above the law,” said U.S. Attorney Troy A. Eid.

“Prosecuting individuals who intentionally conceal income and evade taxes is a vital element in maintaining public confidence in our tax system,” said Christopher M. Sigerson, IRS Special Agent in Charge of the IRS-Criminal Investigation, Denver Field Office.

Filing a false tax return carries a penalty of not more than 3 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to a $250,000.

This case was investigated by the IRS Criminal Investigation Division. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Harmon.