Woonsocket business owners indicted on fraud charges

PROVIDENCE – Two Woonsocket-based machine shop owners were indicted by a federal grand jury on seven counts of tax fraud conspiracy, in which they allegedly used a series of ruses to conceal their income and avoid paying taxes. Bruce Lapierre, 47, of Pascoag, Albert Martin, 58, of Woonsocket, operate Classic Machine. Albert Martin’s wife, Lorraine Martin, 58, of Woonsocket was also indicted in the case. They all appeared in U.S. District Court on Thursday.

The indictment alleges that from 1997 to 2004, Lapierre and Martin used an elaborate scheme to conceal income from the IRS. It is alleged they opened business accounts for depositing business receipts and income, then used Lorraine Martin’s personal account to conceal business receipts.

The indictment also alleges that the defendants, in order to further conceal their assets and income from the IRS, used multiple business names, such as Banner Technologies, Circle Machine, Preferred Enterprises, and Royal Enterprises, to conduct the machine shop business. The defendants also made extensive use of cash and money orders