A Fairfax plumber who was convicted of posing as a diplomat faces new charges in an entirely different kind of scheme, according to court documents. Prosecutors said Richard Earl Jaensch, 54, of Annandale, failed to file taxes, obstructed the Internal Revenue Service and tried to claim a tax refund of $775,000.
Jaensch is already on supervised probation for producing a fake diplomatic badge to pass through government security checkpoints.
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He is charged with felony corrupt endeavor to impede, false claim for a refund, and four counts of failure to file a tax return. Jaensch could face up to 12 years in prison if found guilty.
Prosecutors this week said Jaensch, an independent plumbing contractor, failed to file personal income tax returns between 2001 and 2007.
Between 2002 and 2009, Jaensch obstructed the IRS by filing numerous documents and pleadings in Fairfax County and claiming that his wife, a federal employee, was not required to file federal tax returns. Jaensch claimed that his wife was not a party to the Constitution of the “united States of America” (sic) and therefore not a taxpayer.
Prosecutors said Jaensch had his wife present a letter to her employer every year directing them to stop withholding federal income taxes from her salary.
The IRS began levying his wife’s federal paycheck and bank accounts to satisfy her outstanding tax liability, and Jaensch continued to have his wife write the IRS claiming that they could not withhold taxes from her paycheck.
In addition, Jaensch electronically filed an IRS income tax form claiming a tax refund of $774,052, which prosecutors said he knew to be false.
Last year, Jaensch was found guilty of displaying a diplomatic badge around airports and the Fairfax County courthouse. District Judge T. S. Ellis III sentenced him to one year supervised probation. He has filed an appeal.
According to prosecutors, Jaensch produced the badge at TSA checkpoints and at an April 2008 hearing in Fairfax County Circuit Court. After court personnel confiscated the identification, prosecutors said Jaensch ordered another set.
