Home > Blogs > Taste: Dayton food and restaurants > Archives > 2010 > October > 12 > Entry
Restaurant owner will serve jail time for tax fraud, but avoids prison sentence
Former Madison’s Bistro and Truffle’s Catering co-owner George Argue avoided a lengthy prison term but was sentenced today to serve six months in the Montgomery County Jail, pay full restitution and fulfill 300 hours of community service for stealing $213,799 in state tax money.
Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Frances E. McGee warned Argue that if he fails to adhere to the rules and requirements of her community-control sentence, she will bring him back to her courtroom and sentence him to up to eight years in prison. “Don’t mess up,” the judge told Argue after announcing her sentence.
Argue, 62, of Washington Twp., faced a maximum penalty of nine years in prison. Montgomery County prosecutors had asked the judge to impose a four-year prison sentence, citing the seriousness of the offenses and his failure to fulfill an earlier promise to repay the stolen tax money.
Although she rejected prosecutors’ recommendation for prison, the judge ordered that Argue’s county jail sentence to be spread out over the next three years and to include weekends and holidays.
“You will spend those important days away from your family so you can appreciate what you’ve done,” McGee said.
Argue admitted on Aug. 26 that he failed to forward to the state $171,831 in sales taxes collected from restaurant customers, and failed to forward nearly $41,968 in income taxes withheld from employees’ paychecks, over a four-year period starting in 2005, the year that his restaurant opened. Investigators first learned that was stealing tax money in early 2007, but he failed to live up to an agreement to repay the money and instead stole more, prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum.
Judge McGee had postponed sentencing for a week, ordering Argue and his attorney to show “hard evidence” why he deserved lenience in sentencing. In court today, the judge revealed that she had challenged Argue to raise between $75,000 and $100,000 in cash toward restitution to prove he was serious about repayment. In a week, Argue raised $75,000, and will now begin a repayment plan of $3,563 a month, a figure that may be adjusted, McGee said.
Argue must maintain employment, abide by a curfew and write letters of apology “to those whose lives you’ve disrupted,” McGee said.
Several restaurant employees have had tax problems with the state because of Argue’s failure to forward the money he withheld from their paychecks, prosecutors said.
Prior to sentencing, Argue’s voice cracked several times when he told the judge he was “humbled and remorseful.”
Argue said, “I’m here before you because I broke the law … and because of my own arrogance.” He said he had “forever tarnished” his friends and family, “and I apologize for that.” Many of those same friends and family wrote letters to the judge on his behalf and contributed money toward his $75,000 downpayment on restitution, he said.
Madison’s Bistro, 5531 Far Hills Ave. in Washington Twp., closed in January 2010 following a raid by agents of the Ohio Department of Public Safety’s Ohio Investigative Unit who were acting on a tip that Madison’s was serving alcohol without a license. The restaurant opened in late 2005.
Argue and his wife Harriet previously owned Mediterra restaurant in downtown Dayton and Truffle’s restaurant in Centerville prior to opening Madison’s.
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