N.C. business exec cheated taxpayers out of $700,000, pleads guilty, feds say

The president of two North Carolina manufacturers failed for seven years to pay the IRS what his companies owed in employee taxes — $712,000 before investigators caught onto his scheme, prosecutors said.

On Wednesday, Concord resident Ronald McMurphy pleaded guilty in connection with the fraud and faces up to five years in prison, U.S. Attorney Sandra Hairston in Greensboro said.

McMurphy “failed to collect or pay” the money while president of Concord-based McMurphy Hydraulics Inc. and Powertek Equipment Inc., according to court documents.

Court records don’t say what McMurphy did with the money, if anything.

McMurphy Hydraulics repairs and makes hydraulics equipment. Powertek Equipment makes heavy equipment for the construction and forestry industries.

McMurphy failed to pay the taxes from 2016 to 2022, court records show.

He pleaded guilty to failure to truthfully account for and pay trust fund taxes due, according to court documents. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 12 in U.S. District Court in Greensboro.

McMurphy didn’t return a phone message from The Charlotte Observer. The Observer also left phone and email messages at his companies. His lawyer, Stacey Rubain of Winston-Salem, also couldn’t be reached.