De Queen Trucking Company Owner Sentenced to 20 Months, Ordered to Repay IRS $3.87 Million

DE QUEEN, Ark. – The owner of a De Queen trucking company was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison and ordered to repay the IRS more than $3.87 million for failing to turn over payroll taxes withheld from his employees’ paychecks.

Senior U.S. District Judge Susan O. Hickey sentenced Marty Allen Linville on Sept. 23 in federal court in Texarkana, court records show. Linville pleaded guilty Feb. 9 to two counts of willful failure to account for and pay over trust fund taxes.

Linville is the sole owner and operator of Malco Inc., according to court filings. His attorney described the company as a hauler for the poultry industry whose customers include Tyson Foods and Pilgrim’s Pride.

Hickey ordered Linville to pay $3,870,583.69 in restitution to the IRS and to serve three years of supervised release after prison. She did not impose a fine and waived interest on the restitution.

Linville must report to prison by 1 p.m. Nov. 3. The judge recommended that he be housed at the federal prison in Texarkana so he can be close to family.

Employers are required to withhold income, Social Security and Medicare taxes from workers’ pay and send the money to the IRS each quarter. The amounts are known as trust fund taxes because the employer holds them in trust for the government.

Federal prosecutors said Linville handled Malco’s payroll, signed the weekly payroll checks and was the only person with signature authority over the company’s bank account.

The two counts cover the last two quarters of 2021. Prosecutors said Linville failed to pay $53,170.51 due Oct. 31, 2021, and $56,927.28 due Jan. 31, 2022, a total of $110,097.79.

The restitution order is about 35 times that amount. The court filings reviewed by Arkansas Breaking News do not break down the restitution figure. A defense filing refers to the preparation of quarterly tax returns “for all delinquent periods.”

Linville’s attorney, Fred R. Norton Jr. of Texarkana, Texas, asked the judge in a May filing for probation or house arrest instead of prison. The filing put the range under federal sentencing guidelines at 30 to 37 months.

Norton wrote that Linville accepted responsibility from the start and cooperated with investigators. He said Linville turned over the preparation of the overdue tax returns to his attorneys because the task “had admittedly overwhelmed him.”

The filing argued that sending Linville to prison would end any chance of repaying the IRS.

“Were Defendant to be incarcerated, his ability to make restitution to the victim is not simply impaired. It is destroyed,” Norton wrote. “Malco’s customer base will defect, and there will be no business to which Defendant can return upon his release.”

Norton wrote that Linville had told his customers about the case and that they were willing to keep doing business with Malco as long as he ran it. Tyson Foods intended to increase its business with the company if Linville were allowed to serve his sentence on probation or house arrest, according to the filing.

The filing described Linville as a first-time offender who was born in De Queen and has lived there since 2012. It said he and his sister are the primary caretakers for their mother.

While in prison, Linville must put up to 50 percent of his available funds toward restitution, according to the judgment. After his release, he must pay $3,500 a month or 15 percent of his gross monthly household income, whichever is greater.

He is barred from gambling in any form and from entering casinos while on supervised release. He cannot take on new debt or open bank or credit accounts without approval from the U.S. Probation Office until the restitution is paid.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Carly Marshall prosecuted the case.