SALEM, Ore. - Oregon's Attorney General announced Monday that tax evasion charges have been filed against prominent anti-tax activist Bill Sizemore.

Sizemore most recently announced he would run for Oregon governor, but added with a caveat that he might have to run the campaign from prison, perhaps in anticipation of the tax evasion charges.

Sizemore ran for governor in 1998 and was soundly beaten. In 2002, a Multnomah County jury found that Sizemore's former political action committee had engaged in a "pattern of racketeering" by using forged signatures to qualify measures.

In 1998, Dr. John Kitzhaber defeated Sizemore 63 percent to 30 percent, the largest margin of victory for a governor in 48 years. Kitzhaber is running for the governor's office again in 2010 and is considered the top Democratic candidate.

Sizemore has said he is running as a Republican this time around.

In a press release (read the full text below), Oregon Attorney General John Kroger's office said Billa and Cindy Sizemore failed to file tax returns for 2006, 2007 and 2008.

The press release also said the Sizemores failed to take advantage of a tax-amnesty period in which they could have avoided penalties and some interest on the unpaid taxes.

Kroger's office said "evidence in support of the charges against Bill and Cindy Sizemore was uncovered during a civil lawsuit against entities controlled by Bill Sizemore.

"That lawsuit established that Bill Sizemore set up a sham charity to hide political contributions to various ballot measure campaigns with which he was associated."

This is a press release courtesy of the Oregon Attorney General's Office

Oregon Attorney General John Kroger today announced that the Oregon Department of Justice has filed tax evasion charges against Bill and Cindy Sizemore.
 
The Sizemores were each indicted by a grand jury on three counts of Oregon Personal Income Tax Evasion.  The indictment alleges that Bill and Cindy Sizemore each failed to file tax returns for the tax years 2006, 2007 and 2008.
 
The indictments were issued by the grand jury on Oct. 27, but not unsealed until after the state tax amnesty period ended Nov. 19. Late last week, Oregon Department of Revenue officials confirmed that the Sizemores did not seek to take advantage of the tax amnesty, which was an opportunity for taxpayers to file or amend tax returns in exchange for a waiver of civil penalties and partial interest.
 
This is the second tax evasion case filed by the Oregon Department of Justice since the end of the amnesty period. On Nov. 20, two counts of Oregon Personal Income Tax Evasion and two counts of Unlawful Manufacture and Delivery of Marijuana were filed against Michael Troy Dyer of West Salem.
 
All criminal defendants are innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.  
 
Evidence in support of the charges against Bill and Cindy Sizemore was uncovered during a civil lawsuit against entities controlled by Bill Sizemore. That lawsuit established that Bill Sizemore set up a sham charity to hide political contributions to various ballot measure campaigns with which he was associated.

As a result of that case, Sizemore was banned from managing any charity in an order signed by the court in May 2009.

The Oregon Department of Justice’s Charitable Activities Section, which handled the civil lawsuit, referred the potential criminal charges to the Department of Justice’s Criminal Justice Division earlier this year.  The Criminal Justice Division completed the tax investigation and will handle the newly indicted case in court. 
 
“It is a written policy that any allegations of criminal wrongdoing unearthed during a Department of Justice civil investigation be referred to the department’s Criminal Justice Division for possible prosecution,” said Sean Riddell, the head of the Criminal Justice Division. “We cannot ignore evidence of criminal conduct. We were obligated to follow up on evidence of tax evasion that arose during the civil case.” 
 
Attorney General Kroger said that several other potential tax evasion cases are under investigation. 
 
Attorney General John Kroger leads the Oregon Department of Justice. The Department's mission is to fight crime and fraud, protect the environment, improve child welfare, and defend the rights of all Oregonians.