John George Baehr of Pensacola, FL pleads guilty

[Demosthenes]

Pensacola Laundromat Owner Pleads Guilty To Four Counts Of Filing False And Fictitious Federal Tax Returns Save Email Print


Posted: 11:40 AM Feb 13, 2009
Last Updated: 11:40 AM Feb 13, 2009

Thomas F. Kirwin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, announced that the owner of “Dave’s Maytag, Inc.” entered guilty pleas Wednesday to four counts of filing false, fictitious and fraudulent federal income tax returns.

John George Baehr was charged by Information on December 16, 2008 with filing false tax returns for 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005.

During these years, Baehr was the majority owner of three coin-operated laundries, including “Dave’s Maytag” on Navy Boulevard in Pensacola, a second location on Chief’s Way in Pensacola, and a third location in Pace, Florida.

Friday morning, Baehr admitted to United States District Judge M. Casey Rodgers that he had systematically removed money from these cash intensive businesses, failing to deposit these funds into the business bank accounts, and instead depositing only the business income necessary to pay business expenses.

Baehr admitted that prior to 2001, he became involved with other tax defiers who were recently prosecuted by the Pensacola office of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation, including Ward Dean, Fred J. Suttles, and Kent E. Hovind.

Through his association with them, Baehr admitted that he received and maintained large amounts of anti-tax literature from which he developed ideas on how to evade reporting his business income.

He created a fictitious trust, “Navex Enterprises,” over which he maintained control and from which he derived the benefits. Baehr operated two of the coin laundries through Navex Enterprises and never filed tax returns for the businesses.

During the period 2001 through 2005, Baehr removed in excess of $295,000 from “Dave’s Maytag, Inc.” and $200,000 from the Navex Enterprises coin which he willfully failed to report on his federal tax returns. The resulting total tax loss to the government was more than $78,000.

Tracey Montano, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Tampa Field Office, stated, “The prosecution of individuals who intentionally conceal income and evade taxes is a vital element of maintaining public confidence in our tax system. We should not expect the honest taxpayer to foot the bill for those who hide income from the IRS. Cash-intensive businesses and tax-defier rhetoric may be attractive to those wishing to not pay their fair share of taxes, however, those individuals should be warned that the IRS, with the help of the U.S. Attorney’s office, will actively and aggressively bring them to justice.”

Sentencing is set for April 23, 2009.

Baehr faces a maximum of three years’ imprisonment, a maximum fine of $100,000, and a maximum period of three years of supervised release on each of the four counts of filing false federal income tax returns.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michelle M. Heldmyer and Assistant United States Attorney Stephen P. Preisser.

[Lambkin]

It's amazing how easily this clown could have avoided punishment if he had not made the fatal error of mixing avarice with the TP kool-aid. Hiding buckets of quarters from the IRS could not be that hard, but when you are hanging out with Ward Dean & friends, wearing a great big bull's-eye.... pow!