John L. Brownlee
United States Attorney

Heidi Coy
Media Contact

Thomas B. Mason Building
105 Franklin Rd., S.W.
Roanoke, Virginia 24011
(540) 857-2250
FAX (540) 857-2180

June 14, 2005

RESTAURANT OWNER INDICTED ON TAX CHARGES

United States Attorney John L. Brownlee announced today that Ismail Saleem Abuhawwas, age 41, of Roanoke, Virginia, was indicted by a federal Grand Jury sitting in Roanoke, Virginia.

Abuhawwas was charged in a 9 count indictment with aiding and assisting with filing a false quarterly employee withholding tax return and making false statements to an agent with the FBI.

According to the indictment, Abuhawwas owned the International House of Pancakes restaurant on Valley View Boulevard in Roanoke. Abuhawwas paid Automated Data Processing, Inc. to process the payroll, issue payroll checks, and prepare and electronically file payroll tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service.

In February 2002, an IRS Agent was conducting an audit relating to the reporting of tip income by Abuhawwas's employees. During that investigation, the agent discovered that during 2000 and 2001, the wage, hour, and identity information of certain employees was withheld from Automated Data Processing by Abuhawwas. Manually prepared checks were being issued to these employees. Automated Data Processing was not preparing payroll checks for these employees or reporting their identity to the IRS.

Abuhawwas said until social security and other papers were received, employees were considered contract labor. Abuhawwas admitted that the employees who were issued manual checks were not reported to the IRS.

"No one is exempt from following our tax laws," said United States Attorney John Brownlee. "Mr. Abuhawwas simply disregarded the law, and he will be punished for his actions."

According to the indictment, the amount of income that was not reported to the IRS is as follows:

If convicted on all counts, the maximum penalty faced by the defendant is 29 years imprisonment and/or a fine of $2.5 million.

The investigation of the case was conducted by The Internal Revenue Service. Assistant United States Attorney C. Patrick Hogeboom will prosecute the case.

A Grand Jury indictment is only a charge and not evidence of guilt. The defendant is entitled to a fair trial with the burden on the government to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

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