FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
September 28, 2000

Becky Smalley
(302)577-8667
rsmalley@state.de.us

Michael F. McTaggart 
Deputy Attorney General  
(302)577-8657 - in  Wilm.

DESMOND A. BAKER SENTENCED ON TAX CHARGES

WILMINGTON, De. – Patrick T. Carter, Acting Director of Revenue, announced that Desmond A. Baker, founder and president of Endecon, Inc., a Wilmington-based engineering company, entered a guilty plea today in Superior Court to four misdemeanor tax offenses.

Baker was immediately sentenced by Judge Norman A. Barron to a period of 60 days in jail, suspended for two years probation. Baker agreed to repay $43,476.82 in back taxes as restitution to the Division of Revenue.

Baker pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor counts of willfully failing to file, supply information or pay over to the State income taxes withheld from the wages of Endecon, Inc. employees for the period January 1, 1995 through September 30, 1998 in violation of Title 30, Section 573 of the Delaware Code of 1974, as amended.

The charges against Baker, a Wilmington resident, stem from an investigation by the Delaware Division of Revenue’s Criminal Investigations Unit. The investigation disclosed that Baker, acting on behalf of Endecon, Inc. in his position as a corporate agent, as president of Endecon, Inc., failed to pay employer withholding taxes during the years 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998.