Joel Caswell Sentenced to 42 Months for Tax, Fraud Crimes
Jacksonville’s Joel Caswell Sentenced to 42 Months for Tax, Fraud Crimes
Federal Sentence / Cover Photo: Jacksonville businessman Joel Matthew Caswell, 32, was sentenced to 42 months in federal prison for tax and fraud crimes and ordered to pay nearly $1.2 million in restitution to the IRS. Submitted photo.
AT A GLANCE
Sentence: Joel Caswell, 32, was sentenced to 42 months in federal prison and five years of supervised release.
Restitution: Caswell was ordered to pay $1,198,799.83 to the IRS.
Crimes: He pleaded guilty to tax evasion, employment tax crimes, bank fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.
Separate case: Caswell also faces a pending Jackson County case tied to two 2025 drive-by shootings in northeast Medford.
MEDFORD, Ore. — A Jacksonville businessman has been sentenced to 42 months in federal prison after admitting to a yearslong series of tax and fraud crimes that included withholding employee taxes, submitting fabricated financial records, and using another person’s identity to obtain a mortgage.
Joel Matthew Caswell, 32, was sentenced Friday to three and a half years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. A federal judge also ordered him to pay $1,198,799.83 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
Federal prosecutors said Caswell owned and operated three logging and construction businesses employing approximately 40 people.
From 2018 through 2022, Caswell withheld employment taxes from workers’ paychecks but willfully failed to turn the money over to the IRS, according to court documents and statements made in court.
Prosecutors said Caswell attempted to keep the IRS from collecting the money by directing customers to write checks to another company or directly to him, moving business funds, and lying to IRS collection officers.
The case extended beyond unpaid taxes.
Between 2022 and 2024, prosecutors said Caswell carried out multiple fraud schemes using fabricated financial records to obtain loans from a bank, private lender, and the Small Business Administration.
Those schemes included fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan applications connected to his logging and construction businesses.
In one unusual use of the money, prosecutors said Caswell transferred $70,000 in proceeds from the scheme to be used as a deposit for an ultimate frisbee tournament.
Caswell also used another person’s identifying information to obtain a residential mortgage.
Caswell pleaded guilty June 9 to three counts of tax evasion, three counts of willful failure to pay over employment taxes, one count of bank fraud, one count of wire fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft.
The federal case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation, the FBI, and the Bureau of Land Management.
Separate Medford shooting case
Caswell also faces a separate criminal case in Jackson County stemming from two drive-by shootings in northeast Medford in July 2025.
Medford Police arrested Caswell on Aug. 27, 2025, while he was on federal supervised pretrial release in the fraud case. Police said investigators connected him to a blue Dodge pickup and recovered evidence linking him to shootings July 26 and 27 in the 3600 block of Carnelian Street. No injuries were reported.
A Jackson County grand jury later indicted Caswell on two counts each of unlawful use of a weapon, recklessly endangering another person, first-degree criminal mischief, and unauthorized use of a vehicle.
The Jackson County District Attorney’s Office said at the time that investigators did not find evidence Caswell intended to injure the people inside the home, and the evidence therefore did not support attempted murder or assault charges.
As of June 11, Jefferson Public Radio reported that Caswell had pleaded not guilty in the shooting case and that the case remained pending. Jefferson Daily News did not locate a subsequent public announcement Monday showing a final disposition in that case.
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