EXETER — A local chiropractor has been sentenced to two years in federal prison and ordered to pay $240,000 to the Internal Revenue Service on tax evasion and other charges alleging he failed to file returns and deceived agents during their investigation.

Paul J. Loch reached a plea agreement that will see him spending 24 months in prison and having three years of supervised release, according to a Tuesday announcement by United States Attorney John P. Kacavas.

Loch will pay $240,000 in restitution to the IRS for evading the payment of individual income taxes in 1996 and 1997.

Court documents indicate the IRS investigation of Loch — a self-employed chiropractor — began in 1999 after the federal agency performed an audit on the man's individual returns that turned up numerous discrepancies.

Loch was charged in April of 2010 with evading the payment of his individual income taxes for 1996 and 1997.

The charges alleged Loch evaded the payment of taxes by filing false amended returns, concealing and attempting to conceal the nature and extent of his assets from the IRS; making false statements to IRS agents; placing funds and property in the names of nominees and paying creditors instead of the government.

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