Businessman Gets Fine, Prison for Tax Evasion
A Los Angeles business owner was sentenced to three years in state prison Tuesday and ordered to pay $290,000 for tax evasion and food stamp trafficking, officials said.
Carlos Vidal Fuentes, owner of Vides Market, failed to report on his state income tax returns any of the $1.2 million his store earned in 1999 and 2000, according to the Franchise Tax Board. The 33-year-old South Gate resident was ordered to pay $55,000 in taxes, interest, penalties and the cost of the investigation.
Fuentes must also pay $235,000 to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, after the agency discovered he was engaged in illegal food stamp trafficking.
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