Brian Smith
A group of four employees from the defunct Britton Chevrolet dealership in Berea are facing additional theft charges in connection with vehicle sales the dealership made before closing.
Darian Jones, Danny Sweet, Don Wilson and Clifford Chambers all were indicted Thursday by a Madison County grand jury on theft by failure to make required disposition charges for allegedly failing to forward usage taxes the dealership collected to the Madison County Clerk’s office before the dealership closed in January 2009.
Chambers, who was president of the dealership, is named in all 15 counts of the indictment. Of the 15 counts, 12 are Class D felony counts relating to the collection of the usage taxes, two are misdemeanors relating to the usage taxes and one is a Class D felony charge solely against Chambers relating to the collection of sales taxes that allegedly were not paid to the state.
Jones, the former general manager, is named in two of the felony counts, while his successor, Wilson, is named in 12 of the felony counts and both misdemeanor counts.
Sweet is named in six of the felony counts and one of the misdemeanor counts, according to a copy of the indictment.
The indictment alleges that the dealership collected more than $8,200 in state usage taxes on the sale of 14 cars between Aug. 27, 2008, and Jan. 23, 2009, and alleges employees failed to remit that money to the county clerk before the dealership went out of business.
The sales tax charge against Chambers alleges that the dealership failed to remit sales taxes to the state between July 2007 and January 2009, and that Chambers “intentionally dealt with the property as though it belonged to Britton Chevrolet Olds Inc. and failed to make the required payment to the Commonwealth.”
The four men all were arraigned on the new charges Thursday afternoon during an appearance in Madison Circuit Court on similar charges already filed against them.
Those charges were returned in a June indictment. Chambers was indicted on 12 counts of theft by failure to make required disposition and seven counts of theft by deception, while Jones was indicted on six counts of theft by failure to make required disposition, four counts of theft by deception and three counts of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument.
The forged instrument charges against Jones stem from lien release forms presented to the county clerk’s office that allegedly were forged.
Sweet was indicted on seven counts of theft by failure to make required disposition and two counts of theft by deception, while Wilson was indicted on 12 counts of theft by failure to make required disposition and two counts of theft by deception.
Those charges stem from the alleged failure of the dealership to pay off liens against vehicles that were traded in as part of transactions.
Pretrial conferences on both sets of charges are scheduled for Feb. 4 to allow defense attorneys for each of the men to review the new charges with their clients.
Other indictments
The grand jury also returned an indictment Thursday against Robert D. Plowman, 49, of Irvine, charging him with second-degree burglary and a second-degree persistent felony offender charge.
Plowman allegedly broke into a Madison County home on Aug. 21, the indictment states.
If convicted, Plowman could receive an enhanced sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison.
An indictment is a formal statement of charges and does not imply guilt.
Brian Smith may be reached at bsmith@richmondregister.com or at 624-6694.
