Lake View restaurant owner pleads guilty to tax fraud

A Lake View restaurant owner pleaded guilty this week to using sales suppression software to underreport more than $1 million in sales at her North Side restaurant.

Sandra Sanchez, a 45-year-old woman from Morton Grove, admitted to using a “tax zapper” at Cesar’s Killer Margaritas, 3166 N. Clark St., to defraud the state out of more than $100,000 in taxes between 2012 and 2015, according to the Illinois’ attorney general’s office.

The “tax zapper” software automatically deletes records of cash sales transactions and reconciles the data so that reported sales match reported income, prosecutors said. The software was banned in 2013.

Sanchez’s conviction is the first in Illinois to involve such technology, prosecutors said. She was sentenced to two years in prison and one year of supervised release.

“The case should send a message to all business owners who attempt to use tax suppression devices to defraud the state,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said. “Using technology will not prevent you from getting caught, and it certainly will not protect you from being held accountable.”