Man pleads not guilty to stealing lottery tickets, filing fraudulent tax returns
MANITOWOC (WLUK) – Matthew Buchholz pleaded not guilty Thursday to stealing lottery tickets from his employer and not reporting the income on his tax returns.
No trial date was set. He returns to court Aug. 23 for a status conference.
Buchholz, 41, is charged with one felony count of theft and three counts of filing a false or fraudulent state income tax return for tax years 2017 through 2019 and one felony count of theft-false representation.
According to the criminal complaint, Buchholz stole lottery tickets worth between $10,000 and $100,000 from his place of employment and defrauded the Wisconsin Lottery. Buchholz then collected the winnings from the stolen tickets and failed to report any of this income on his income tax returns.
The complaint alleges that Buchholz filed tax returns and understated income by more than $300,500, evading over $20,000 in Wisconsin income tax.
If convicted on all counts, Buchholz faces a maximum penalty of up to 31 years and six months in prison and/or $65,000 in fines.
