A former Waseca, Minn.-based CPA has been ordered to pay clients $1.6 million that he stole from them while preparing their taxes and handling investments. Roger Goetz, Jr., received a four-and-a-half year prison sentence after pleading guilty to two counts of wire fraud. He was also ordered to undergo three years of supervised release.Goetz pleaded guilty to lying to clients to steal their money from about December 2009 to roughly February 2013. The Minnesota Board of Accountancy revoked his CPA license in March 2013.
Among the victims was one who wired $115,000 to pay estimated state taxes on his parents' estate. After the client discovered the theft two years later, Goetz provided doctored documents that attempt to cover up the failure to file. The victim had to use his daughter's college fund to pay taxes and penalties.
In January 2012, about a month after Goetz was confronted by that client, he stole $170,000 from another. Again, the client hired Goetz to prepare estate tax returns for his deceased parents. A year later, Goetz gave this client a check to cover penalties, but it bounced.
Goetz also repeatedly stole money given to him for investments for his business, Core Water Systems. He lied to at least nine individuals about investments in CWS and in an assisted living facility in New Ulm. Instead of investing money in those enterprises, Goetz transferred money to unrelated accounts and used it for purposes, such as paying his own overdue bills.