Oregon Logging Company Owner Hid Taxes, Faked Loan Records and Spent PPP Money on Ultimate Frisbee

JACKSON COUNTY, Ore. — Tax evasion, employment tax crimes, bank and wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft have resulted in a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for the Jacksonville owner of three logging and construction companies.

Yesterday, Joel Matthew Caswell (32) was ordered to pay $1,198,799.83 in restitution to the IRS and sentenced to 42 months in federal prison. He was also sentenced to five years of supervised release.

According to court documents and evidence given in court, Caswell owned and operated three logging and construction businesses that employed about 40 people.

Failed to Pay Employee Taxes to the IRS

From 2018 through 2022, Caswell failed to pay his employees’ employment taxes to the IRS. He also attempted to evade these and other taxes by directing customers to write checks to another company, or to him personally, moving business funds and lying to IRS collection officers.

Separately, between 2022 and 2024, Caswell executed multiple fraud schemes to secure loans. These involved submitting fabricated financial records to a bank, a private lender, and the Small Business Administration.

He submitted fraudulent PPP and EIDL applications for his three logging and construction businesses, transferring $70,000 of the proceeds from his scheme to be used as a deposit for an ultimate frisbee tournament. Caswell also used a false identity to obtain a residential mortgage.

Caswell pleaded guilty to three counts of tax evasion, three counts of willful failure to pay employment taxes, one count of bank fraud, one count of wire fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft.