Saturday, January 26, 2002
Depew sentencing to come after investigation
By Ryan Good
Staff Writer
Tiffin's former 1st Ward Councilman pleaded guilty Friday in Seneca County Common Pleas Court to failing to pay income tax and sales tax from his business.
Dale Depew entered the plea to failing to remit sales tax and failing to pay employee sales tax. He is to be sentenced by Visiting Judge Kathleen Aubry of Wyandot County after the completion of a pre-sentence investigation.
Under the plea agreement, Depew agreed to three years of community control plus restitution and court costs. As part of the agreement, he will also be able to keep his vendor's license to operate Seneca Printing, Aubry said during Friday's hearing.
When asked by Aubry what he had done wrong, Depew replied, "I would agree to the information that is listed in the bill of information."
After being asked again by the visiting judge why he was in court, Depew admitted, "... failure to file tax returns."
The bills of information - which are agreed upon in lieu of a grand jury indictment - state that Depew didn't file the business's sales tax in October 1999 and and failed to pay income taxes from employees to the state in January 1999.
In 2000, Visiting Judge Jonathan Stotzer sentenced Depew in Tiffin Municipal Court to a 30-day suspended jail sentence for each of three misdemeanor counts of failing to file his business's sales tax.