FORT PIERCE, Florida (AP) ? A former Tyco International tax executive surrendered yesterday on charges that he filed a false company tax return in 1999 that failed to report about $170 million in income.

Raymond Scott Stevenson, of Delray Beach, pleaded not guilty to the single charge, which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

As Tyco?s vice president for taxation, Stevenson was the company?s top tax adviser in 1999 when he allegedly oversaw a series of transactions intended to reduce its state tax liability. That caused a capital gain of $170 million for Tyco that was not reflected on its tax return that year, prosecutors said.

It was not immediately clear yesterday if Stevenson had hired a lawyer.

Tyco spokeswoman Sheri Woodruff said that Stevenson was fired in 2003 and that the company has been cooperating with the Internal Revenue Service and federal prosecutors on the tax matter.

?We will certainly continue to do that. We have no reason to believe at all that Tyco is the target of any investigation,? Woodruff said.

?We were aware that this case was pending.?

Tyco, which is registered in Bermuda but run from West Windsor, New Jersey, manufactures a wide array of products from telecommunications equipment to home alarm systems.

Stevenson?s alleged misdeeds occurred during the tenure of former Tyco chief executive Dennis Kozlowski, who along with former chief financial officer Mark Swartz was convicted last year in a New York state court on multiple counts of grand larceny, conspiracy, securities fraud and falsifying business records.

Prosecutors said the two conspired to defraud Tyco of millions of dollars to fund their extravagant lifestyles.

They were sentenced in September to up to 25 years in prison.