Scituate contractor gets 30 months in federal prison

Published Feb. 24, 2010 at 4:35 p.m.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A Scituate contractor was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison this morning for failing to pay $2.1 million in employment taxes for two of his companies.

Chief U.S. District Court Judge Mary M. Lisi imposed the sentence for Steven Allard, 47, who had earlier pleaded guilty to felony counts of tax evasion and bankruptcy fraud.

The government, in an earlier plea hearing, argued that Allard directed income generated from one of his businesses, Builder Resources Inc.-Massachusetts, be transferred to three of his other businesses, Builders Resources Inc-Delaware, Quad and Edgewood.

A prosecutor had said that Allard failed to pay the Internal Revenue Service the employment taxes due his companies and instead diverted the funds to himself and his wife. Some of the money was used to buy luxury cars.

Allard apologized to the court. Lisi said that she regretted that she was restricted under the federal sentencing guidelines from imposing a stiffer sentence. She pointed out that Allard spent time in federal prison in the 1990s for accepting kickbacks.

Under the guidelines, the conviction was too old and could not be factored into today's sentence.

"You out of all people should have had an incentive to stay on the straight and narrow,'' she said.

Allard was released on $50,000 unsecured bond and he was ordered to surrender at a yet-to-be determined federal prison no later than 2 p.m. on March 17.

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