Pharmacy Owner Will Need Sedatives After Sentencing

Jerry Harper, Jr., the owner of Family Discount Pharmacy with several locations in Virginia, was sentenced to 41 months in prison for failing to account for, and pay, employment taxes.

From 1998 to 2014, Harper was responsible for collecting and paying employment taxes for the pharmacy chain. Although Harper withheld the taxes from his employee’s paychecks, he did not turn those taxes over to the IRS. In 15 years, Harper only filed one quarterly employment return with the Internal Revenue Service.

The amount of employment tax liability was more than $5 million. Harper admitted in court that he used that money to pay personal expenses, including $100,000 for his son’s pharmacy school tuition, $370,000 for real property in Virginia and North Carolina, made over $500,000 in stock investments and wired over $1 million to his personal bank account.

In addition to his prison time, Harper is ordered to serve 2 years of supervised release, pay restitution in the amount of $5,069,555.73 and a fine of $25,000.