Pay taxes or gamble, in more ways than one?
The woman who owned Carlisle’s “Garden of Peace” avoided almost $400,000 in taxes – and gambled heavily – while caring for mentally and physically handicapped group home residents.
A federal judge in Kansas City today sentenced Dedree R. Carlisle, 52, of Kansas City to two years in prison.
She pleaded guilty in March to attempting to evade taxes for her operation at multiple houses in Kansas City neighborhoods.
From a media release by federal prosecutors:
She operated the Garden of Peace from 2005 to 2009, when she changed the name to “Mracles Residential Care.”
Starting in 2006, she evaded paying at least $397,213 in federal and state taxes, penalties and interest.
Notified in June 2011, that she was under criminal investigation, she continued to withhold employee taxes and spend them for personal use until her business shut down this year.
She admitted she gambled heavily with funds taken from her business accounts, which she used as personal charge accounts.
She had some success at it. She spent about $127,000 at a casino from 2008 to 2010, and casino records show she won $320,000 in 2010, $145,200 in 2009 and $29,219 in 2008.
But it seems even if you win in such a case, you lose.
Besides the prison time, the judge ordered her to pay $397,213 in restitution.
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