BOSTON (WWLP) - An owner of two construction companies was sentenced to a Massachusetts prison for tax and mail fraud. In a news release from the Justice Department in Boston, 51-year-old Driusz Pietron of Hopkinton owned and operated TJM Construction, Inc. and Point Construction, Inc. between 2012 and 2018 and failed to pay more than $1.1 million in employment taxes to the IRS and defrauded Travelers Insurance Company of approximately $244,000. Tax season opens January 27th: What to know The Justice Department said Pietron recruited and paid two employees to establish three shell companies that would make it appear as if TJM and Point’s employees were subcontractors to whom Pietron had no tax or workers’ compensation obligations. In this scheme, he failed to report to the IRS the wages he paid to employees, failed to withhold required income taxes, and failed to pay required employment taxes. He also paid less in workers’ compensation insurance premiums than he owed to Travelers Insurance Company for not disclosing the actual wages he paid to employees. Pietron pleaded guilty to three counts of failure to collect and pay over-employment taxes to the IRS and one count of mail fraud relating to underpaid workers’ compensation insurance premiums. He was sentenced on Friday to 18 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of $1,107,000 to the IRS and $244,000 to the Travelers Insurance Company. Local News Headlines Pittsfield man arrested after allegedly hitting two people with gun Landowners in these Massachusetts towns help conserve habitat for cottontail rabbits Multiple crews put out garage fire in Ludlow, one left without a home Former Massachusetts construction company owner sent to prison for fraud WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.com.