Barrington Jeweler Guilty of Tax Evasion

A Barrington woman who operated a Newport jewelry store pleaded guilty to tax evasion, the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service announced on Tuesday, Oct. 4.

Karen St. Pierre pleaded guilty before Judge John J. McConnell Jr. in the District of Rhode Island to one count of willfully filing a false individual tax return. She faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison, one year of supervised release and a find of up to $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 6, 2012.

­According to court documents, St. Pierre owned and operated the House of Windsor, a jewelry store in Newport. In 2004, the House of Windsor generated approximately $632,522 in gross receipts. 

On April 15, 2005, St. Pierre filed a false individual income tax return that reported, in part, that the gross receipts generated by the store were only $281,780.  As a result of this material false statement, St. Pierre failed to pay approximately $64,595 in taxes. 

IRS criminal investigators handled the case and Tax Division trial attorneys prosecuted it, according to the Justice Department and IRS.