Lenoir City car repair shop owner pleads guilty to theft, sales tax evasion

Manager of Eurohaus Motorsports, LLC ordered to pay over $23k in restitution.

LENOIR CITY (WATE) – A Lenoir City businessman will pay thousands of dollars in restitution after he pleaded guilty to theft and sales tax evasion.

Robert Wayne Berry, Jr., 51, was ordered to pay $23,823.19 in restitution and placed on probation for the next four years.Berry was the manager of Eurohaus Motorsports, LLC.

The Department of Revenue said the theft was related to an incident on November 3, 2015. Berry faced over 23 counts of tax evasion after the Department of Revenue said he failed to remit state sales tax from January 2011 through January 2013.

“This investigation serves as a reminder that retailers are not entitled to use or keep sales tax monies,” Revenue Commissioner Richard Roberts said. “Sales tax revenues collected by retailers are never property of the retailer.  At all times these sales tax collections are property of our state and local governments and must be remitted to the state as required by law.  Consumers who pay the tax deserve to know that the money will be used by the state and local governments for the common good.”