A Canton business owner faces 10 felony counts after state investigators reported he earned more than $3.6 million in taxable income from 2020 through 2024 without filing or paying Minnesota income taxes.
Ted John Lord, 66, was charged September 21 in Fillmore County District Court. According to the complaint, Lord operated Trukk Scan Support Services LLC from his Canton home. His first court appearance is scheduled for October 27 at 9:15 a.m. via Zoom before Judge Jeremy Clinefelter.
The charges comprise five counts of failing to file tax returns and five counts of failing to pay taxes. Each count carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison, a $5,000 fine, or both.
The Minnesota Department of Revenue estimates Lord earned $3,670,091 in taxable income over the five-year period. The department’s year-by-year estimate lists a total unpaid balance of $600,077.24, which includes back taxes, late filing and payment penalties, fraud penalties, and interest.
Trukk Scan sold and distributed diagnostic laptops, custom programming, and computer support services. State investigators noted the business received over $6 million in payments between 2020 and 2024, as reported to the state by card-processing companies.
Lord had operated the business since 2018, initially while working at a truck body shop. He told investigators he had planned to learn more about running a business but never did.
Investigators found no individual or business income tax returns filed by Lord for the years in question. The five failure-to-file charges correspond to the filing deadlines for tax years 2020 through 2024 (May 17, 2021, through April 15, 2025), alongside five corresponding failure-to-pay charges.
The investigation launched in December 2022 when a state revenue investigator discovered Lord had not filed individual or business tax returns since 2019. State records show Trukk Scan registered in Delaware in 2019 and in Minnesota in 2021. Obtaining a federal tax ID number upon registering the business indicated to investigators that Lord understood his legal obligation to file and pay state income taxes.
In an August 2025 phone interview, Lord confirmed state records showed no tax returns from him, the complaint says. He told investigators he was working with an accounting firm in Utah.
“As far as the sales tax and stuff… I’m trying to figure out how to file it, I pay it. It’s not like I don’t want to,” Lord told investigators, according to the complaint.
The complaint further notes that Lord told a probation officer in an unrelated case that he had not paid taxes since 2014 but was looking into the matter. Investigators reported that Lord had neither filed returns nor made tax payments by the time the complaint was filed.
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