RALEIGH – A Cleveland County man pleaded guilty Monday to failing to file and pay North Carolina taxes.

Howard B. Roberts, Jr., 54, of 111 Goforth Road, Kings Mountain, pleaded guilty in Wake County District Court on Feb. 2, 2004 to one count of willfully failing to file sales tax returns and one count of willfully failing to pay sales tax to the North Carolina Department of Revenue. The charges were in connection to a Kings Mountain convenience store owned and operated by Roberts.

District Court Judge Craig Croom sentenced Roberts to 45 days in jail. The sentence was suspended and Roberts was placed on unsupervised probation for 12 months. Roberts was ordered to pay a $500 fine, $100 in court costs, a $200 community service fee and to perform 25 hours of community service within six months. Roberts was further ordered to timely file and remit all future taxes. Before sentencing, Roberts paid the Department of Revenue $12,038.91 in restitution.

The charges against Roberts resulted from an investigation by a field auditor in the Department of Revenue's Hickory Office and a special agent with the Department's Criminal Investigations Division.

Last modified on: 10/31/07 03:43:52 PM.