QUILCENE — Rohn M. Rutledge will likely plead guilty in connection with the theft of at least $462,817 in sales tax proceeds generated at his closed Olympic Timber House and another restaurant he owns in Kingston, his lawyer said.
It’s “a fair assumption” that Rutledge will plead guilty to one count of first-degree theft and four counts of filing false or fraudulent tax returns, Bainbridge Island attorney Steve Olsen said last week.
“That’s my expectation,” Olsen said.
Olsen said Rutledge may plead guilty at his arraignment on the charges at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 6 in Kitsap County Superior Court.
The case focuses on the largest sales-tax fraud case in Jefferson, Clallam and Kitsap counties in at least 10 years and probably 20 years, a state Attorney General’s Office spokesman said last week.
Rutledge, who ran the businesses with his wife, Carin, also owns and operates the Dockside Bar & Grill in Suquamish.
He did not return requests for comment left last week at the Suquamish eatery.
According to court records, Rutledge admitted to a Department of Revenue agent in 2010 that he deliberately falsified tax returns filed with the agency.
Rutledge allegedly said he wasn’t doing business at the Main Street Ale House in Kingston and at Olympic Timber House when he actually was, according to court records.
“Rohn M. Rutledge stated he was struggling to meet expenses and filed ‘no business’ returns because he knew no way out of his dilemma,” a Department of Revenue agent said in court records.
The agency was alerted to the alleged fraud when they saw that Rutledge had advertised that the restaurants’ doors were open.
He allegedly stole sales tax proceeds totaling $314,277 generated by the Ale House between July 2005 and June 2010 and $148,540 generated by the Olympic Timber House between July 2007 and June 2010.
The Rutledges closed the Timber House in mid-October, leaving 14 employees without jobs and their final paychecks, former restaurant manager Jim Marshall said last week.
Their Sea Restaurants and Catering LLC of Indianola, doing business as Olympic Timber House restaurant, owes $12,272 in delinquent property taxes for 2010 and 2011, according to the Jefferson County Assessor’s Office.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
