Florida diner owner accused of not filing sales tax returns since 2009

The owner of Celebrity Diner in Royal Palm Beach, Florida, was arrested Wednesday, after police said she failed to file consecutive tax returns dating back to 2009.

Karlyce Tyson Longmire, 65, of suburban West Palm Beach, is facing charges of theft of state funds and failure to file tax returns. She was released from the Palm Beach County Jail Wednesday night on $3,000 bail.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Longmire registered her business with the state of Florida in December 2008, and began filing monthly sales and use tax returns. But she stopped filing and remitting those sales taxes in June 2009, and hasn’t done so through May 2012, according to records from the state’s Department of Revenue.

Records show state officials made seven attempts to contact Longmire since Oct. 2011 to resolve the tax delinquencies. Longmire admitted she had not filed sales tax returns for her business since April 2009.

State officials also said Longmire spoke with a revenue specialist at the West Palm Beach Service Center in January 2012, when she promised she would have outstanding sales and use tax returns ready within one week. Records show Longmire did not turn in her returns.

Without the necessary documents, the state filed a notice of final assessment with the Palm Beach County Clerk of Courts, and in March, Longmire’s business records were subpoenaed.

A month later, Department of Revenue officials went to the business and bought food. The receipt for the meal showed the sales tax was added as a separate line item. In an interview with the restaurant’s manager, officials were told Longmire was in charge of all financial aspects of the business, and that the cash register was used only to store cash.

An examination of Longmire’s financial records showed her business collected a minimum of $28,386.83 in sales taxes between June 2009 and February 2012. A review of her bank statements showed there were about $491,400 in the business bank account.

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