Two former Hawai'i residents now living in Nevada were indicted today by a federal grand jury in Honolulu for tax evasion and other related tax offenses.

David Opollo Ross and Lei Lavarias Ross, also known as Lei L. Lavarias and Lei

Lopez, have been licensed psychologists in Hawai'i since 1997.

They are accused of using entities they established or controlled to hide income earned from their psychology services from the Internal Revenue Serrvice, said U.S. Attorney for Hawai'i Edward Kubo Jr. The entities contracted with state and city for-profit and nonprofit organizations for services, Kubo added.

The Rosses were each charged with five counts of tax evasion for the tax years 1998-2002 and one count of conspiracy related to the evasion. They are also charged individually with two counts of failing to file income tax returns in 2001 and 2002.

The indictment alleges the Rosses had a taxable income of over $794,000 for those years and owe the government over $182,000.

If convicted, the Rosses could be sentenced to a maximum five years imprisonment and fined up to $250,000 for each of the five evasion counts and the conspiracy count. The failure-to-file charge carries maximum penalties of one year imprisonment and $100,000 in fines.