NEWPORT — The owner and president of Old Town-based Forests By Design Inc., a company specializing in tree harvesting, pleaded guilty Wednesday to four counts of failing to pay state income taxes withheld from his employees.

Out of 16 possible quarters during a time period spanning Jan 1, 1993 to Dec. 31, 1996, Brian Curtin, 31, of Levant only filed his taxes accurately two or three times, said Assistant Attorney General William Baghdoyan, the state’s prosecuter in criminal tax cases.

Following his plea in Newport District Court on Wednesday, Curtin presented a certified bank check for $20,000 — almost half of the $40,800.88 he owed in back taxes and interest — to the court. The balance — $20,800.88 — is due by Oct. 31.

On Thursday afternoon, Curtin said all he’s guilty of “is taking money out of the payroll and putting it back into the business.”

Curtin said for the past seven years that he has owned Forests By Design Inc., it’s been a struggle, and that he’s never taken a salary.

Baghdoyan said that Curtin’s “is not an isolated prosecution.”

Over the past year, he pointed out that the state has convicted about 40 defendants statewide and recovered almost $1 million in back taxes and interest.

Baghdoyan said a lot of people don’t realize that failure to pay employees’ state income tax or any kind of sales tax is a criminal offense. After an individual or a business fails to pay such taxes, the Bureau of Taxation becomes involved, he said. First, the bureau may issue a warning to the offender that the state may bring civil collection action against them. If the problem is serious, said Baghdoyan, the case is turned over to the Attorney General’s Office for prosecution.

Baghdoyan explained that a typical case starts when a business becomes “tight for money.” They stop filing their taxes accurately, thinking they can use the money to get the business up and running again, he said. And before long, the offender has fallen behind “for a fairly long period of time.”

According to Baghdoyan, Curtin was notified by the Bureau of Taxation “well over a year ago” that the taxes for the company’s approximately 20 employees weren’t being filed in a timely fashion. Curtin didn’t correct the problem then, he said.

“This is, unfortunately, all too common,” Baghdoyan said.

Curtin said for the past two years he had been receiving standardized letters from the Bureau of Taxation which said he owed back taxes, but that he didn’t get any warning for the first two years.

“I was unaware that the first two years was oustanding,” said Curtin. “I wasn’t aware until the very end.”

Curtin said that his very first meeting with the Bureau of Taxation this summer “was with someone from enforcement and Baghdoyan.” Up until that point, he hadn’t realized the seriousness of the offenses or that he had even committed an offense, he said.

Offenders can either be charged with a misdemeanor or theft by misapplication, which is a felony charge, said Baghdoyan. In Curtin’s case, the Attorney General’s Office chose to charge him with four Class D misdemeanors because he cooperated with the investigation, didn’t have a criminal record and freely admitted his wrongdoing, he said.

Prior to Wednesday’s court appearance and over a period of several months, the Attorney General’s Office had been working with Curtin on negotiating a plea agreement.

The agreement requested that Curtin be sentenced to nine months in Penobscot County Jail with all suspended, and a year of probation for each of the more current 1995 and 1996 counts. He was also ordered to pay two fines of $500 each for the 1993 and 1994 counts.

During his two consecutive years of probation, Curtin must meet one particular special condition: that any personal or business-related tax returns be filed and paid in a timely fashion.

“[The Attorney General’s office] is engaged in a conscious effort to more aggressively bring criminal charges against offenders,” said Baghdoyan.