CLEARFIELD – Two former restaurant owners pleaded guilty Monday for not paying more than $60,000 in sales tax for their Philipsburg business.
Sabrina L. Saldana, 37, of Hollidaysburg and Armando Mendoza Saldana, 49, of Patton were both originally charged with seven felony counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds by agents of the attorney general’s office in 2020.
The charges stem from their business activity from Jan. 20, 2016 to July 20, 2017 at their Mexican restaurant, Salsa’s Mexican Grill in Philipsburg.
A plea agreement in their cases in January was rejected by President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman after he learned they had only paid $15,000 in restitution.
Ammerman accepted a plea for five years probation to one misdemeanor count of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds for each of them on Monday after they paid a total of $60,000.
They still owe a balance of $1,866.32. It was noted that neither of them has a prior criminal record.
Prior to sentencing, Sabrina Saldana apologized to the court.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, Sabrina Saldana owned 85 percent of the business while her father was a silent partner with 15 percent ownership. She ran the business with her husband, Armando Saldana, who was listed as the co-operator.
Records reportedly indicate that a total of $61,866.32 in sales tax was collected during the fourth quarter of 2015 through the second quarter of 2017 and was not paid to the state.
The restaurants were under the name Salsa’s Mexican Grill II LLP and involved three locations: Philipsburg, Columbia in Lancaster County and Annville in Lebanon County.
It was discovered that Sabrina Saldana previously owned and operated Salsa’s Mexican Grill Inc. in Bedford, which also had a sales tax liability.
Later she had a business known as Salsa’s Mexican Grill III LLC for a mobile lunch truck in Hollidaysburg.
Initially with Salsa’s Mexican Grill II LLP, an accountant filed the sales tax payments. This ended after the second quarter of 2016.
This accountant told investigators that she “instructed the Saldana’s that they were required to make the tax payments.”
Instead, the couple used the sales tax money to pay other expenses for the restaurants and for personal bills.
When Armando Saldana was interviewed in October of 2018, he reportedly admitted that the couple was responsible for submitting the sales tax forms and funds and they decided to use the money for other things.
He also stated that he was unaware that it was a criminal offense to not file the forms and pay in a timely manner.
Armando Saldana told investigators that after the accountant was no longer responsible for paying the sales tax, she continued to advise them to pay the taxes, but they refused to listen to her advice because they did not have the money.
Previously it was mentioned that they had similar cases for the other businesses, but there are no other charges listed in online court documents.