Sikeston resident placed on probation, fined for tax fraud

ST. LOUIS -- A Sikeston restaurant owner was sentenced Thursday for filing false tax returns.

Haralambos "Bobby" Katsantonis, 49, of Sikeston was sentenced to six months home confinement and two years probation. Katsantonis was also ordered to pay a $20,000 fine. He will be required to deal with the Internal Revenue Service to settle his civil tax liabilities.

On March 29 Katsantonis pleaded guilty to one felony count of filing a false federal income tax return.

According to the facts filed with the court at the time of the plea, in 1994, Katsantonis and his family moved to Sikeston and began operating a restaurant under the name of Jay's Crispy Fried Chicken. The tax accountant who prepared the tax returns for the business relied upon the deposits shown in the amount of the restaurant business bank records to calculate the gross receipts of the business.

A substantial amount of the restaurant business receipts were in cash, some of which Katsantonis deposited into his personal checking account. As a result, these receipts were not reflected on the business bank account records that he provided to the accountant were and were not included in the calculation of gross receipts on Schedule C for that particular tax year. For 1997, 1998 and 1999, the defendant failed to include gross receipts of the business on his tax returns in the amounts of $28,100, $70,060 and $74,925, respectively.

The case was investigated by the IRS. Assistant U.S. Attorney James E. Crowe Jr. handled the case for the U.S. Attorney's Office.