EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Two Rhode Island and four Massachusetts fishermen were among seven charged with tax evasion and failing to file tax returns.

They each worked for fishing companies operating mainly out of New Bedford and Point Judith, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

The companies allegedly paid the fishermen as independent contractors and documented the income in several ways, the DOJ said.

However, the fishermen allegedly didn’t file individual tax returns or didn’t pay all of the taxes owed on the money they received.

The DOJ said each fisherman allegedly avoided paying taxes on between $900,000 and $1.9 million in income. 

As a way to hide where their income was coming from, the fishermen allegedly cashed checks and then used that money in their daily lives.

If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for each evasion count and one year for each failure to file a tax return charge.

The following seven people were charged:

• Jorge Cazarin, of New Bedford, was charged with five counts of tax evasion and five counts of willful failure to file tax returns for 2016 through 2020.
• Christopher Garraty, of Newport and East Greenwich, was charged with three counts of tax evasion and three counts of willful failure to file for 2016 through 2018, and a fourth count of tax evasion related to taxes he allegedly owed for 2007 through 2011.
• Wojciech Kaminski, of West Warwick, was charged with five counts of tax evasion for 2014 and 2016 through 2019 and four counts of willful failure to file tax returns for 2016 through 2019. 
• Rodolfo Membreno, of Fall River, was charged with six counts of tax evasion for 2012 and 2017 through 2021 and four counts of willful failure to file tax returns for 2017 through 2019 and 2021. 
• John Doe, of New Bedford, was charged with six counts of tax evasion for 2016 through 2021 and three counts of willful failure to file tax returns for 2016 through 2018. 
• Miguel Cruz Rubio, of New Bedford and Elizabethtown, North Carolina, was charged with four counts of tax evasion for 2016 through 2019.
• Brian Kobus, of Durham, Connecticut, was charged with five counts of tax evasion for 2017 through 2021.