Police: Iowa restaurant owner owes $230K in state sales tax
The owner of a Pleasant Hill restaurant faces numerous tax evasion charges after authorities said he failed to pay the 5% sales tax for several years.
Court documents show that 34-year-old Justin Hodges, who owns Mexican restaurant La Feria, owes nearly $230,000 in state sales tax. He was taken to the Polk County Jail and has since been charged with 13 counts of tax evasion.
“The interesting part of the case is that he had actually paid properly the first year that the business was open and then had failed to do so properly since that time,” Pleasant Hill police Capt. Amy Kramer said.
Police said Hodges hadn’t paid the 5% sales tax since 2016. Officials with the Department of Revenue notified Pleasant Hill detectives, who said they have rarely dealt with this type of crime.
[image id='9d7be064-aaa1-4c69-bfe4-9bc1dc877a88' mediaId='93722505-2a18-47b5-9b6a-09ec6ad75861' align='center' size='medium' share='true' caption='' expand='' crop='original'][/image]“When we took Mr. Hodges into custody today and took him to the jail, they were not familiar with sales tax evasion case law as well, so they actually had to look it up to put him into the booking sheet,” Kramer said.
A general manager at La Feria declined to speak with KCCI regarding the charges. It wasn’t immediately clear if the restaurant will remain open.
“I would come back whether he paid or not,” customer Darrick Hicks said. “It’s something that he would have to figure out.”
Hodges is scheduled to appear before a judge Friday.