Floyds Knobs couple arrested for tax evasion, theft

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November 29, 2012

Floyds Knobs couple arrested for tax evasion, theft

Deleon, Kaufman also face prostitution-related charges

By MATT KOESTERS matt.koesters@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Thu Nov 29, 2012, 04:54 PM EST

> SOUTHERN INDIANA — Two Floyds Knobs residents already facing prostitution charges in Clark County were arrested Thursday for tax evasion, theft and corrupt business influence.

The Indiana State Police arrested Ivan. J. Deleon, 36, and Jeanacarol Kaufman, 38, at their Floyds Knobs home. Both are being held in Clark County Jail on $20,000 bonds.

Deleon and Kaufman are both charged with corrupt business influence, a class C felony, and sales tax evasion, income tax evasion and theft, all class D felonies.

Deleon and Kaufman operated a massage parlor called My Studio 1501 along North Shore Drive in Jeffersonville until August 2011, when it was shut down as part of an undercover police investigation. Five women were arrested on charges of prostitution at the time. Deleon and Kaufman face two counts of promoting prostitution, a Class C felony, with a jury trial scheduled for Jan. 29 in Clark County Circuit Court 1.

Deleon and Kaufman also operated Natural Healing of Kentuckiana in Clarksville, which was shut down on two separate occasions by town officials for operating without a permit.

ISP Detective Tim Densby initiated a criminal investigation that led to the most recent charges after receiving information in August from the Indiana Department of Revenue that Deleon and Kaufman had failed to file Indiana income taxes for My Studio 1501, according to an ISP release.

Corrupt business influence is committed when a person knowingly or intentionally receives proceeds from a pattern of racketeering activity and uses those proceeds to operate a criminal enterprise, per Indiana Code 35-45-6-2.

The theft charge stems from the failure to pay income taxes, said ISP Sgt. Todd Ringle.

“Just simply by having the business and not paying the sales tax as required by law, that constitutes theft,” Ringle said.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Deleon and Kaufman would rent out rooms at My Studio 1501 where male and female employees would provide body rubs, showers and sexual acts to clients.

“I interviewed two former employees, and both employees told me that Deleon and Kaufman would keep 60 percent of the room rental and the employees would be able to keep 40 percent of the room rentals as earnings,” Densby wrote in the affidavit. “These room rentals were considered to be commerce under State of Indiana laws. Since these room rentals were considered commerce, Deleon, Kaufman and My 1501 Studio would have to pay Indiana sales tax as required by law.

“I checked with the Indiana Department of Revenue. During this time period, the Indiana Department of Revenue never received any sales-tax payments from Deleon, Kaufman or My 1501 Studio.”

Indiana sales-tax filings are required to be settled monthly.

Deleon has been an Indiana resident since Feb. 27, 2007, while Kaufman has been an Indiana resident since Aug. 25, 2006, according to the affidavit. According to the document, neither of the two have filed state income tax returns since becoming residents.