Sentence for tax cheat: Provide free prom dresses
May 19, 2010 8:28 AM | 4 Comments | UPDATED STORY
A bridal shop owner has been ordered to play fairy godmother to hundreds of teenage girls as restitution for cheating on his company's sales tax returns.
Dale Buziecki, 64, president and owner of House of Brides Inc., pleaded guilty Monday in Cook County to filing fraudulent sales tax returns for his stores in Glen Ellyn, Norridge, Schaumburg, Oak Lawn and Chicago.
As part of his punishment, the Wheaton man was ordered to donate 500 formal dresses a year for the next three years to the Glass Slipper Project, a nonprofit that collects and distributes prom outfits for Chicago-area high school students who can't afford them.
""The state will recover the sales tax owed and, through the required community service, many young women who want to attend their high school prom will have that opportunity,"" Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said in a written statement.
Criminal investigators with the Illinois Department of Revenue estimate that the tax scofflaw overstated deductions and underreported more than $5 million in sales from November 2005 through June 2006. Buziecki could not be reached for comment.
The court also ordered him to serve 30 months probation, pay a roughly $280,000 fine and perform 250 hours of community service.
--Angie Leventis Lourgos
Pros: free dresses for nice people
Cons: the Buziecki's didn't receive a jail term
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