EVERETT — In the next four months an Everett yacht broker could cut the time he spends in prison if he pays on the nearly $950,000 he owes the state for failing to pay sales tax he collected from customers.
Ronald J. Sperry, 59, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Snohomish County Superior Court to first-degree theft and 16 counts of filing a false tax return. He admitted he failed to remit nearly $353,000 in sales tax he collected from late 2004 through 2007 on sales of yachts through his businesses, Everett Yacht Sales and Hanan Yachts.
Sperry was once vice commodore of the Everett Yacht Club.
The case was brought by the Criminal Justice Division of the state Attorney General’s Office at the request of the Department of Revenue.
Sperry reported about $5.5 million in sales to the Department of Licensing but less than a quarter of that to the Department of Revenue, according to court documents. He pocketed the sales tax paid to him by customers of the yachts he sold, and was under-reporting the 10 percent commissions he made on those sales, which are subject to business and occupation tax.
Sperry told state investigators he had lost most of his records. They were able to reconstruct his sales activity by examining records necessary to transfer titles of the yachts he sold, according to court papers.
Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Michael Downes on Wednesday delayed Sperry’s sentencing hearing for four months to give the defendant time to pay his tax obligations.
Sperry faces more than four years in prison. Prosecutors have agreed to allow Sperry to withdraw his guilty plea to some of the charges depending on how much he pays back to the state before his sentencing.
Sperry could spend as little as two-months on work release if he pays back the entire amount he owes the state.
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