Tampa Republic

Jacksonville, Florida – Travis Morgan Slaughter and Tripp Charles Slaughter have pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit tax fraud. The charges relate to a Jacksonville roofing business they operated. Each faces up to 5 years in federal prison for tax fraud and up to 20 years for mail and wire fraud. Sentencing is yet to be scheduled.

Travis Slaughter has agreed to forfeit $2,780,947 obtained from the fraud offense and pay restitution totaling $9,820,776. This includes amounts for payroll tax loss, unpaid workers’ compensation insurance premiums, and paid workers’ compensation claims. Tripp Slaughter will forfeit $416,800 from the fraud offense and pay restitution totaling $1,177,847.

The plea agreements detail that since 2007 the Slaughters operated under different business names: Great White Construction, Florida Roofing Experts, and 5 Star Roofing Services. Despite name changes, operations remained consistent with banking at the same institutions and employing the same staff.

Their company used professional employer organizations (PEOs) for payroll processing but did not report all employee hours or wages. Employees received “split checks” from both PEOs and company accounts without full payroll tax deductions being made. From January 2017 through July 2020, while PEOs processed $4,930,613 in payroll after taxes were deducted, the company issued additional checks totaling $18,545,845 without deducting taxes. This resulted in $2,768,377 in unpaid payroll taxes.

The company also underreported its payroll to workers’ compensation insurers through PEOs leading to an additional premium shortfall of $2,780,947.

Furthermore, personal income was underreported by the Slaughters between 2014-2019 resulting in unpaid taxes of $2,467,183 for Travis Slaughter and $263,614 for Tripp Slaughter.

Investigations were conducted by several agencies including the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant United States Attorney Arnold B. Corsmeier is prosecuting the case with asset forfeiture managed by Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer M. Harrington.