Newport Couple Plead Guilty to Misstating Income : Courts: Their tax return left out at least $57,000 earned from a restaurant and catering business.
SANTA ANA — A Newport Beach couple who ran the food stands at the Bob Hope Classic golf tournament pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to underreporting their income on a tax return by at least $57,000.
Beverly Wunsch, 56, also pleaded guilty to assisting in preparing a false payroll tax return. She faces a maximum prison sentence of six years and a $500,000 fine. William Wunsch, 55, faces three years and a $250,000 fine.
Teri Sowers, the Wunsches’ daughter, also pleaded guilty last month to helping her parents prepare the false 1986 income tax return. She also pleaded guilty to hiding income by evading the $10,000 limit over which banks are required by law to report transactions.
Sowers faces an eight-year sentence and a $500,000 fine.
The Wunsches admitted to underreporting income from a restaurant called Culpeppers in Orange and from their catering business, Park Avenue Gourmet Catering in Orange. Park Avenue ran concession stands at the Bob Hope Classic in Palm Springs and at the Los Angeles Open.
As part of their plea bargain with federal prosecutors, the couple must pay all back taxes, interest and penalties. Before their sentencing, they must also deposit $200,000 into a special trust account for payment of those taxes.
Sentencing for the couple is set for Oct. 18 in federal court in Santa Ana. Sowers, who was the catering company’s bookkeeper, is to be sentenced Aug. 23.
A criminal investigation by the Internal Revenue Service began two years ago after an audit turned up irregularities in the Wunsches’ tax returns, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Elana S. Artson.
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