By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

FRYEBURG — When Bob Quinn stood before a judge last week to answer to charges that he underreported sales at his Jockey Cap Country Store and failed to pay expected sales tax for a 10-year period, he wanted to do the right thing.

He pleaded guilty.

And, he wants to “make things right.”

Attorney General Aaron Frey announced last week that Quinn, 48, the owner of the Jockey Cap Country Store in Fryeburg, was sentenced in the Oxford County Unified Criminal Court to serve three months in jail for failing to pay over a large portion of the store’s sales tax for the years 2007 through 2017.

Beginning in August 2007, and continuing through February 2017, Quinn intentionally underreported both the store’s sales and sales tax collected by substantial amounts, Frey said. Quinn diverted over $370,000 in sales tax to his own use. The state already has recovered over $206,000 from Quinn, and he was ordered to pay an additional $300,000 (which includes interest).

Quinn pled guilty to the crimes of theft, tax evasion and failure to collect, truthfully account, or pay over tax. Justice Joyce A. Wheeler sentenced Quinn to four years, with all but three months in jail, and three years of probation. Quinn was ordered to repay the $300,000 as restitution.

“Business owners are entrusted to collect sales tax and properly pay the sales tax over to Maine Revenue Services. My office will continue to pursue business owners who, for personal gain, abuse the trust the state places in them,” said Frey in a press release.

The case was investigated by the Maine Revenue Services’ Criminal Investigations Unit. Assistant Attorney General Gregg D. Bernstein handled this matter for the Attorney General’s Criminal Division.

Bob Quinn comments

“Obviously, I’m humiliated and embarrassed. I did indeed underreport sales and sales tax throughout the years. Instead of paying what we owed, I paid what we could afford. It was unethical and incorrect. I’ve taken steps to move forward,” said Bob in an interview at the store Tuesday afternoon. He was joined by his wife, Allyson. “I’m a lousy bookkeeper and really bad at keeping track of things. Certainly, things will change. Unfortunately, when you are not accounting things properly, your budget is messed up and you have to start making adjustments. When the audit began in January 2017, we took immediate steps, cutting expenses. We cooperated fully with the state the entire time. We had to submit a bunch of documents, which we did willingly.”

The Quinns hired accountant Bruce Jones of Bridgton to oversee the audit process.

“They (the state) came up with an initial judgment, and from there it went from a civil to a criminal investigation due to the amount owed,” Bob said. “As this investigation went on, it was suffering in silence type of thing since not many people knew about it. We didn’t know when the next shoe was going to drop. It was pretty rough. I pleaded guilty to whatever it was. I was hoping we could work something out that it didn’t become a criminal matter, but it wasn’t possible due to the amount involved, it couldn’t be dropped down to a civil charge.”

“We thought we could get this fixed,” Allyson said.

In other publications, the phrasing that money was “pocketed” struck somewhat of a chord with the Quinns.

“We haven’t been living the high life,” Allyson said. “Anybody that knows us, knows that. If anything, Bob was overworked and just didn’t have the right systems in place and things went by the wayside. I feel bad because other than in the summer, I don’t work there and haven’t been able to give him some help.”

“It is all self-inflicted,” Bob said. “I can’t blame anybody. I don’t blame anybody. It’s me. I should have had it right from Day 1. I don’t have any excuses other than I can’t un-ring a bell. I can only move forward at this point. The community has been great. In my suffering in silence, I conjured up that everybody would leave me. It’s a huge amount of money, but I’ve worked diligently to already pay back $206,000 over the last 20 months. I’ve wanted to make it right since Day 1. I’ve learned from this.”

The Quinns have run the store for the past 13 years (come this May).

“I have been overwhelmed by the support we have received, from messages on Facebook to people stopping by or hearing from people from my past,” Bob said.

Judge Wheeler commended Bob for standing up and taking responsibility for making a mistake.

“We’ve taught our kids that when you make a mistake, you stand up and take ownership 100% and try to make it right,” Allyson said. “She also told him not to torture himself for the rest of his life, which he has been doing since this started. It was a mistake. She told Bob in open court, please don’t let this define you.”

As word spread about the tax evasion case, other business owners asked Bob how state officials approached the investigation and what did they look for. Bob feels his case has put others on alert.

“After I am done with what I’ve been ordered to do, I want to get the message out that it can happen to anybody. I haven’t done anything wrong in the past, but now I have a record. If anyone else can fix things now, get ahead of it before the state comes to you. If hearing our story helps one person to do the right thing, then it has been worth it,” he said. “We owe the money. I don’t want to be perceived as a thief. I’m paying it back. I can only try to fix things and apologize to people, the town and family and move on and do things right.”

The store will experience “limited” hours (mainly not as late at night) for a while, which will be posted on Jockey Cap’s Facebook page, but will eventually “get back to normal” sometime in May, Bob said.

News of Quinn’s sentencing had no effect on customers Tuesday looking to shop at the popular country store. A steady stream of cars and trucks entered the lot, and moments later, customers were disappointed to see a “Closed” sign on the store’s main door. The closure was temporary, Quinn said, as the family caught their collective breaths and took care of a few matters. By Wednesday, Jockey Cap was back in business.

“It’s a good feeling to know that people still support you,” Bob said. “It will be a little awkward for me for a while, I guess it’s that Catholic guilt. I’m not going to hide from it. I’ve learned a tough lesson, I will make it right, and I will move forward.”