Great Falls Gun Shop Owner Admits To IRS Fraud

Plea Agreement Reached For Highwood Creek Gun Store Owner

Tommy Michael VanHoose will be pleading guilty to one count of submitting a false tax return at his gun shop, Highwood Creek Outfitters. VanHoose signed the agreement on October 4, 2025. The agreement states that VanHoose will pay $250,000 in restitution to the United States.

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An IRS investigation found VanHoose skimmed sales and underreported more than a million dollars in income for the store.

What Exactly Happened At Highwood Creek Outfitters?

• Highwood Creek Outfitters was listed for sale at $1.75 million dollars
• In 2023, an IRS agent posed as a potential buyer asked a relator about the listing price
• The real estate agent allegedly said something like "Not everything flows to the tax returns." to the IRS agent posing as the buyer
• Allegedly, the real estate agent told the undercover agent that they would not identify in writing any “off the books” income but the actual amount of income was “substantial,” --The Electric
• In May, the IRS toured the store with VanHoose, and he told the undercover IRS agent he had skimmed about $450,000 in cash and had underreported his income to the IRS by around 20%
• The Undercover IRS Agent asked VanHoose how he skimmed when everything has to be reported, and VanHoose is said to have answered, " It's easy. They don’t know what I’m paying for or I’m getting in income off those guns,”--The Electric
• In June, 2023 IRS agents executed a search warrant on Highwood Creek Outfitters
• During the investigation, they found VanHoose had sold over $572,000 in firearms where he made no entry into the point of sale system

Read More: Check Out This Huge Drug Bust By The MHP

The Investigation And Arrest Were A Bit Scandalous

Former Montana Representative, Matt Rosendale was so appalled by the search and investigation that he "sent a letter to ATF Director Dettelbach and IRS Commissioner Werfel demanding answers about this outrageous attack"--Former Representative Matt Rosendale on X, formerly known as Twitter

VanHoose told KRTV in 2023, "The fact that they think we make so much money as a gun business that they had to come investigate all the thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars whatever it is we supposedly absconded with, anybody that knows the margins in the gun business knows they’re not that high."

Sources: Montana Free Press 2025, Montana Free Press 2024, The Electric, The River/ KVVR, KRTV