Washington Dealer Pleads Guilty to Felony Theft of Sales Tax
An auto dealer in Spokane, Wash., pled guilty to felony theft of sales tax and filing false state tax returns.
SPOKANE, Wash. — The operator of now-closed Alpine Auto Wholesale in Spokane, Wash., pled guilty today to felony theft of sales tax and filing false state tax returns.
Marc Eugene Reed, 45, admitted that the business collected $179,675.33 in sales tax on retail vehicle sales in 2009 and 2010 but failed to remit it to the state. Spokane County Superior Court Judge Salvatore F. Cozza sentenced Marc Reed to 45 days and ordered him to pay $180,275.33 in restitution and court costs.
The charges were filed in November 2011 by the Financial Crimes Unit of the Washington State Attorney General’s Office at the request of the Washington State Department of Revenue.
According to the complaint, Reed and his late mother Linda Lee Reed admitted to state investigators that they knew that they should have remitted the collected sales tax to the Department of Revenue but were “going to get caught up later.”
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