The owner of a western Iowa bar has been sentenced to three months in a federal prison on tax evasion charges.
Sixty-two-year-old Craig Tripp of Avoca ran the Blue Moon Bar and Grill in Neola. Prosecutors say Tripp “failed to provide an accurate accounting” of how much profit he made selling beer and food at the bar. Tripp has agreed to pay back taxes. Officials say he filed a false federal tax return in 2009 and failed to report business profits in 2007, 2008 and 2010.
Tripp has been fined $15,000. In addition, Tripp has agreed to pay the back taxes he owes, but that amount hasn’t yet been calculated.