By Cathy Locke
clocke@sacbee.com
A former Grass Valley couple has been sentenced to two years in prison for tax evasion and bankruptcy fraud following their extradition from Costa Rica.
U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that Lin Bartee, 66, and Christine Bartee, 52, were each sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr. for conspiring to evade income tax and fraudulently concealing property in connection with a bankruptcy case. In addition to the prison sentence, they were ordered to pay $239,472 in restitution.
According to their plea agreements, the Bartees admitted to receiving at least $260,000 in taxable income in 2002. However, neither defendant filed an income tax return and Lin Bartee instead sent the IRS a document indicating that he was not required to pay taxes.
From August 2002 through March 2003, the Bartees admitted to transferring more than $230,000 to a third party, who then transferred much of the money to Costa Rica, according to a federal Department of Justice news release. In April 2003, the couple filed a voluntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition, in which they claimed to have minimal assets and denied making any monetary transfers during the previous year.
On Nov. 9, 2004, the bankruptcy court declined to discharge the Bartees' debts, and the couple left the United States for Costa Rica.
A grand jury in Sacramento indicted the Bartees on June 26, 2008, and the United States initiated extradition proceedings. The two were arrested in a remote area of Costa Rica on May 14, 2009, and were brought to the United States in January 2010, officials said.
The case resulted from an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation.
Call The Bee's Cathy Locke, (916) 321-5287.
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