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Woman dies in house fire in SD city of Parkston
• PARKSTON, S.D. (AP) -- A retired school art teacher has died in a house fire in the southeastern South Dakota city of Parkston.
• Authorities say 64-year-old Kathie Neal died in the fire early Wednesday. She lived alone.
• The cause of the blaze was not immediately determined, but investigators said it appeared to be accidental.
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Former SD surgeon sentenced for tax evasion
• RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -- A former Rapid City surgeon convicted of trying to cheat the government out of more than $1 million in taxes has been sentenced to five years in federal prison.
• Edward Picardi, 56, of Sturgis, was accused of sending millions of dollars of income out of the country and filtering the money through offshore accounts to avoid paying taxes.
• Picardi said he put his trust in a Maryland attorney and financial adviser.
• "In general, I am a trusting person," he said during the Tuesday hearing. His attorney, Robert Van Norman, asked for probation, saying his client was a "very naive and sometimes very smart" man.
• U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson said in a statement that Picardi's attempt to hide assets was not tax planning but criminal activity. During the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Koliner said the case was one of the largest of its kind in federal court in South Dakota and that Picardi should be imprisoned for 10 years, according to the Rapid City Journal.
• "The jury heard the evidence and they didn't buy it," he said of Picardi's claims that his financial adviser was to blame.
• A jury last October convicted Picardi on 13 felony counts -- five counts of tax evasion from 1999-2003; five counts of making false statements on each of his tax returns from 2004-2008; and three counts of failing to file required reports with the U.S. Treasury Department from 2007-2009 disclosing his interest in foreign accounts.
• His medical license was revoked a few months after his conviction. The Internal Revenue Service has filed a civil case against Picardi for $3.7 million in back taxes and penalties.
• Several people testified in support of Picardi on Tuesday, describing the sur (Continued on page 23)
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