Fryeburg store owner sentenced for almost a decade of sales tax evasion
Robert Quinn, 48, owner of the Jockey Cap Country Store in Fryeburg, was sentenced in the Oxford County Unified Criminal Court to three months in jail for failing to pay a large portion of the store’s sales tax from 2007 through 2017, according to an announcement Friday by Attorney General Aaron Frey.
Jockey Cap Country Store, 116 Bridgton Road, is a gasoline and convenience store.
Frey said in a news release that beginning in August 2007 and continuing through February 2017, Quinn intentionally under reported both the store’s sales and sales tax collected by substantial amounts. He diverted more than $370,000 in sales tax for his own use, Frey said.
The state has recovered more than $206,000 from Quinn, and he was ordered to pay an additional $300,000 (which includes interest), Frey stated.
Quinn pled guilty to the crimes of theft, tax evasion and failure to collect, truthfully account, or pay over tax. Justice Joyce A. Wheeler sentenced Quinn to four years, with all but three months suspended, and three years of probation. Quinn was ordered to repay the $300,000 as restitution.
“Business owners are entrusted to collect sales tax and properly pay the sales tax over to Maine Revenue Services,” Frey said. “My office will continue to pursue business owners who, for personal gain, abuse the trust the state places in them.”
This case was investigated by the Maine Revenue Services’ Criminal Investigations Unit. Assistant Attorney General Gregg D. Bernstein handled the case for the Attorney General’s Criminal Division.
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