Feds sentence Taqueria Arandas owner

HOUSTON — Jesus Huerta has been sentenced to federal prison for filing false income tax returns relating to his Taqueria Arandas restaurants.

The announcement was made Friday by U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson and Internal Revenue Service — Criminal Investigations Special Agent in Charge Lucy Cruz.

U.S. District Judge Gray H. Miller sentenced Huerta to 12 months and one day in federal prison and ordered him to pay $543,646 restitution.

Huerta owned Taqueria Arandas No 20 Inc., through which he operated a restaurant at 4228 state Highway 6 North, and Taqueria Arandas No. 33 Inc., through which he operated a second restaurant at 9401 S. Main St. in Houston.

In a plea agreement executed Nov. 2, 2010, Huerta admitted he had assisted in the filing of corporate income tax returns for these restaurants for tax years 2001 through 2006 that underreported sales by about $4.6 million.

At the time of sentencing, Huerta already had made restitution payments totaling about $276,000 with the balance due and payable during his supervised release term.

Huerta is one of 13 local Taqueria Arandas Restaurant owners charged with filing false federal income and employment tax returns for their restaurants.

To date, IRS-CI has received almost $6 million in delinquent taxes, penalties and interest from these defendants and all remain subject to audit and further assessment of taxes, penalties and interest.