A former Hallowell pub owner has been convicted of tax evasion, sentenced to serve 45 days in jail and ordered to pay $30,700 in restitution.

Augusta resident Krystal Lavallee, 43, was convicted of three counts of sales tax evasion and one count of theft by misapplication of sales tax in Kennebec County Superior Court on May 19, the Maine Attorney General’s Office said in a statement Wednesday.

Lavallee operated the former Brews & Views bar and restaurant on Water Street in Hallowell from 2015-17, it said. During that time, she “consistently underreported the business’s sales when she filed Maine sales tax returns, reporting just $37,000 in sales over a nearly three-year period.”

Investigators with Maine Revenue Services’ Criminal Investigations Unit determined the pub’s actual sales were 10 times what Lavallee reported. Overall, she underreported the amount of sales tax collected by more than $24,000, the attorney general’s office said.

The $30,735.94 in restitution that Lavallee was ordered to pay includes accrued interest, the attorney general said. She also will be placed on probation for one year.

“Maine depends on its business owners to deal honestly in collecting and reporting sales tax,” Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey said in a statement. “I appreciate the hard work of the Criminal Division and Maine Revenue Services in securing this conviction.”

Assistant Attorney General Elizabeth T. Weyl handled the case for the attorney general’s criminal division.


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