Washington County attorney Peter Orput has announced the conviction of the vice president of 61 Marine and Sports Inc. on three counts of submission of false or fraudulent sales tax returns to the Minnesota Department of Revenue. On September 3rd, during his first appearance in Washington County District court, Jeffrey McKenzie pled guilty to all charges of the three-count complaint in which he was accused on three separate months in the summer of 2017 of causing false monthly tax returns to be submitted to the Department of Revenue. Charges arose from an investigation conducted by agents of the Department who concluded McKenzie was the corporate officer responsible for dealing with financial and taxation matters. As reflected in the complaint and admitted to by McKenzie in his guilty plea on the three occasions for which he was charged he altered financial entries on post-it notes so subordinates would convey to the bookkeeper in charge of submitting tax turn information to the State false and reduced sales tax amounts that were due. Sentencing for McKenzie is set for December 2nd. He was released on his own recognizance pending sentencing on condition he remain law-abiding, assist in preparation of a pre-sentence investigation and a restitution investigation.
