ALFRED — A former York County commercial fisherman was placed in custody and taken to York County Jail on Friday after a judge found he had failed to live up to the terms of a plea agreement worked out a year ago on his failure to pay income taxes for several years.
Randy Waycotte, formerly of Saco and now of Portland, was sentenced Friday at York County Superior Court by Judge Michael Cantara to 364 days in jail, with all but four months suspended, and was ordered to pay restitution to Maine Revenue Services of $8,121.
Waycotte, whose age was not available, had previous convictions on tax charges in the early 2000s. Because of his prior history, he was originally charged with Class C felonies on the new charges but had reached a plea agreement where those charged would be reduced to misdemeanors. Part of the terms of that agreement were that he would make payments on the taxes he owned.
Assistant Attorney General Gregory Bernstein said Waycotte had not made a payment since the plea agreement was worked out.
Bernstein said Waycotte made about $32,000 in 2015; $120,000 in 2016; and $49,000 in 2017.
Referring to the previous conviction as well as the charges that brought him to court on Friday, he told the judge that Waycotte owned taxes for 1991 to 1996; 2004 and 2005; 2009 to 2012 and 2015 to 2017.
He asked the judge to sentence Waycotte to serve six months of a 364 day sentence, plus restitution and a year’s administrative leave.
Waycotte’s attorney, Peter Evans, said his client’s circumstances had been very difficult of late, and said he hasn’t had a successful fishing year since 2017. In an attempt to increase his income, Waycotte rigged a boat for tuna fishing, and caught five tuna, but three were two small, said Evans. The sale of the two remaining tuna fish went to pay the boat expenses.
Waycotte told the judge that he had been fishing for 30 years, and now, with the sole care of his teenage son and poor fishing, decided to get a job on land, doing carpentry work.
“I’m pounding nails, doing what I can do to get by,” said Waycotte. “I can barely pay any of my bills right now.”
He said the money he earned in 2016, the year he did well fishing, went to pay bills incurred in prior years.
He pointed out that taxes aren’t taken from fishermen’s paychecks, like they are in other industries.
“The state is not unsympathetic,” said Bernstein, noting that often the way fishermen are paid can be problematic. He said had there not been a history and if attempts had been made to pay, the state might have been inclined to stay any jail sentence for a period of time.
Cantara, in passing sentence, noted Waycotte has long known he hadn’t been in compliance. He said that the defendant could have alerted Maine Revenue Services about his difficulties paying and had he done so, perhaps a solution could have been found.
In addition to serving four months in jail of the 364 day sentence, Waycotte is to pay restitution of $8,121 by the 11th month of a 12-month administrative release he is to serve after being released from jail.
— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 780-9016 or twells@journaltribune.com.
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