John L. Brownlee
United States Attorney

Heidi Coy
Public Affairs Specialist

BB&T Building
310 1st Street, S.W., Room 906
Roanoke, Virginia 24011
(540) 857-2250
FAX (540) 857-2180

November 30, 2005

RESTAURANT OWNER FOUND GUILTY OF TAX VIOLATIONS

United States Attorney John L. Brownlee announced today that Ismail Saleem Abuhawwas, age 42, of Roanoke, Virginia, was convicted of eight counts of aiding and assisting with filing a false quarterly employee withholding tax return and one count of making false statements to an agent with the FBI. Abuhawwas was convicted after a three day jury trial in United States District Court in Roanoke.

According to testimony, 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.

"We are pleased with today's guilty verdict. Mr. Abuhawwas intentionally submitted false tax information, and the evidence made that clear to the jury," said United States Attorney John Brownlee.

The maximum penalty faced by Abuhawwas is 29 years in prison and a fine of $2.5 million dollars.

The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service. Assistant United States Attorney C. Patrick Hogeboom prosecuted the case.

No sentencing date has been set.

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