Opinion ID: 624219
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Conviction and Probation

Text: In 1999, Plotkin was convicted in the Eastern District of Missouri of filing false tax returns in the years 1991, 1992 and 1993, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1). Plotkin was sentenced to five years’ probation, which he began serving in May 2001. As a special condition of his probation, Plotkin was required to “file all correct tax returns and forms required by the income tax laws of the United 1 We review de novo a district court order granting a motion to dismiss, applying the same standard as the district court, accepting the complaint’s allegations as true and drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff. Randall v. Scott, 610 F.3d 701, 705 (11th Cir. 2010). To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual allegations, accepted as true, to state a claim for relief that is “plausible on its face.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, ___, 129 S. Ct. 1937, 1949 (2009). 2 States, pay any taxes owed and, as requested by the U.S. Probation Office, provide copies of all filed tax forms.” After Plotkin moved to Ocala, Florida, supervision of his probation was transferred to the Middle District of Florida. In November 2005, Plotkin’s probation officer, Thomas Sanders, filed a petition for revocation in the Middle District of Florida. The revocation petition alleged that Plotkin had violated his special condition of probation by failing to file his tax returns and pay taxes from 2001 to 2005. The district court held two hearings on the revocation petition. During the second hearing, on June 20, 2006, the parties argued about whether the special condition of probation referred only to taxes owed in years 1991 through 1993 or to future taxes Plotkin would owe during the probationary period. After the hearing, the district court transferred probation supervision back to the Eastern District of Missouri. There, in December 2006, the district court summarily dismissed the petition and released Plotkin from probation. By this time, Plotkin’s five-year probation, which began in May 2001, was apparently expired, but the record does not tell us the basis for the district court’s dismissal.