The co-owner of Economy Plumbing and Heating Supply on Morton Street in Mattapan was charged Tuesday with filing false federal tax returns from the company for several years so he could buy $10 million worth of gold bars and silver ingots, the US Attorney's office in Boston announced yesterday.

Claudio Poles, 78, of Dorchester, admitted his guilt in a plea agreement filed with the four counts of filing false tax returns in US District Court

The US Attorney's office said it would recommend a sentence of one year in federal prison, restitution of $2.96 million to the IRS and a fine, at a plea hearing before a judge on May 9. The judge can disregard the recommendation.

According to prosecutors, Poles began filing bogus personal returns in 2019 - and diverting money from Economy's accounts.

For 2021, according to an "information" filed by prosecutors, Pole left off $2.8 million in revenue off Economy's tax return. Between 2019 and 2022, the government charges, he reported losses on his 1040 forms when, in fact, he was making enough of a profit to buy even more gold and silver.

At the same time, he would use money from Economy's accounts to buy precious metals - writing in the memo lines of the checks that they were for "boilers," "materials" and "p&h supp," according to the charging document.