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Quincy Restaurant Owner Pleads Guilty
to Filing False Tax Returns
Springfield, IL - Jan Paul Miller, United States Attorney for the Central
District of Illinois, announced that Jerome H. Vogel, owner and operator
of Elder's Restaurant, Inc. in Quincy, Illinois, entered a plea of guilty
today to two counts of filing false tax returns. At today's hearing, the
judge reserved acceptance of the plea until completion of the pre-sentence
report.
According to documents filed with the court, Vogel, age 55, of 2634 Dunbarton
Road, Quincy, Illinois, was charged with two counts of signing false tax
returns in an Information filed July 12, 2002, in federal court in Springfield.
The defendant waived his right to be indicted by a grand jury and agreed
to be charged by an Information filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
During his plea hearing in federal court today, Vogel admitted that for
tax year 1995 he filed a corporate tax return for Elder's Restaurant,
Inc. which understated gross receipts by $67,246 and understated dividends
by $1,197. On the same return, Vogel also included $3,785 as expenses,
when in fact the funds were used to purchase shares of stock in GTE and
Coca-Cola.
For tax year 1996, Vogel admitted he filed a false joint individual income
tax return in which he failed to report $11,153 in capital gains from
stock sales and an additional $81,344 distribution he received from Elders
in stock of GTE, Coca-Cola and Pepsico.
Vogel is scheduled for sentencing on November 22, 2002, in Springfield
before U.S. District Judge Jeanne E. Scott.
The maximum statutory penalty for each charge of signing a false tax
return is up to three years imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000.
The charges are the result of an investigation conducted by the Criminal
Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service. The case is being
prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Chesley.
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