Trucking firm co-owner pleads guilty to income-tax charge

An Independence County man who was indicted on four counts of failure to collect or pay federal income taxes pleaded guilty to one count in federal court Thursday morning in advance of a jury trial set for March 4.

Matthew Wycough, 43, of Batesville, was indicted in October 2022 after, officials said, he failed to submit payroll taxes from the business totaling more than $144,000 to the Internal Revenue Service in the last two quarters of 2016 and the first two quarters of 2017.

On Thursday, Wycough, accompanied by his attorney, Blake Hendrix of Little Rock, appeared before U.S. District Judge James M. Moody Jr. to plead guilty to Count 1 of the indictment. According to the court docket, Wycough was initially scheduled for a pre-trial conference, but a joint status report submitted by Hendrix and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Morgan filed Feb. 2 indicated that plea negotiations were ongoing at that time and would likely be complete by the hearing date.

According to court records, Wycough was the co-owner and operator of Wybran Inc., a commercial trucking business based in Batesville. Records said that Wycough’s partner oversaw logistics and field operations while Wycough maintained responsibility as company president for the business’ financial matters, including payroll and taxes.

Records said that Wybran withheld payroll taxes owed under the Federal Insurance Contribution Act — commonly known as FICA — from employee paychecks and that bookkeepers prepared IRS Form 941 quarterly tax returns enabling Wycough to report and submit the FICA withholdings to the IRS. According to the records, although Wycough had made such submissions according to law in the past, he failed to submit the withholdings for the four quarters ending September 2016, December 2016, March 2017 and June 2017, with each quarter represented by a separate count on the indictment.

According to the indictment, Wycough used funds withheld from employees’ wages for personal expenses, loans to himself and his business partner, and payments to his wife, mother, business partner and his business partner’s wife.

Under federal sentencing statutes, each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, three years’ supervised release and a $100 mandatory special assessment.

After Moody explained Wycough’s trial rights and what rights he would surrender by pleading guilty, Morgan outlined the terms of the plea agreement, which included an agreement by the government to move for dismissal of three of the counts in exchange for Wycough’s guilty plea to Count 1.

“I want you to understand that I’m not involved in plea bargaining in any way and

I’m not bound by the terms of your plea agreement,” Moody said. “I’ll listen to the recommendations of the lawyers, but I’m not required to follow them, do you understand that?”

“Yes, sir,” Wycough replied. “Do you understand that your sentence is going to be completely up to me?” Moody asked.

“Yes, sir,” Wycough repeated.

After Morgan summarized the terms of the plea agreement, which included the government’s agreement to dismiss Counts 2, 3, and 4 of the indictment following Wycough’s plea to Count 1 and mandatory restitution of $146,956.46, Wycough confirmed his understanding of the agreement.

Following Wycough’s guilty plea, Moody dismissed the remaining three counts in the indictment and said a sentencing date will be set after completion of a pre-sentencing investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office, a process that normally takes between 60 and 90 days. Wycough, who has been free on bond since his arraignment, will remain on bond until he returns for sentencing later this year.