Oak Lawn man pleads guilty to defrauding state out of $200K

An Oak Lawn man surrendered to police Thursday after pleading guilty to defrauding the state out of more than $200,000 in taxes, according to Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

Abdullah Dahleh, 36, managed a Willowbrook tobacco shop, Outlet Tobacco, Inc. which operates as Tobacco Outlet Cigarettes, Cigars & More. Between 2011 and 2014, he underreported millions in sales to the Illinois Dept. of Revenue, state prosecutors said.

Dahleh pleaded guilty to filing a fraudulent tax return and was sentenced to two years in prison, state prosecutors said. He was also ordered to pay more than $200,000 in back taxes to the Illinois Department of Revenue.

“The defendant defrauded the state out of hundred of thousands of dollars for his personal profit,” Madigan said in a statement. “We will continue to work to hold dishonest business owners accountable for illegally profiting at the expense of the state.”

The investigation was conducted by the Illinois Department of Revenue, which investigates and prosecutes tobacco store owners who evade sales tax payment alongside Madigan’s Special Prosecutions Bureau.