Ukiah restaurant owner sentenced to two years in prison for tax, employment violations

A Ukiah restaurant owner was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison for obstructing tax laws and harboring illegal aliens for profit, the U.S. Department of Justice reported.

Yaowapha Ritdet, 56, also was ordered to pay $567,756 in restitution to the IRS and $70,769 to the employees she underpaid.

Ritdet last August admitted in federal court to knowingly hiring Thai nationals who were in the country illegally to work at her two restaurants, Ruen Tong Thai Cuisine and Walter Café, according to the Justice Department. She also admitted to underpaying the employees and instructing them not to speak to anyone about their immigration status.

She additionally pleaded guilty to filing false income tax returns from 2007 through 2011; failing to disclose gross receipts, sales and income from the restaurants, rental income and foreign bank accounts; and failing to adequately report employment taxes, according to the Justice Department.

The Justice Department indicted both Ritdet and her husband, Steve Walter, in 2014, two years after their two North State Street restaurants were raided by federal agents.

Walter in March was sentenced in federal court to three years of probation and ordered to pay restitution of $70,769 for his part in the scheme, according to court documents.

He initially was indicted for allegedly making and submitting false federal income tax returns, willfully violating foreign bank account reporting requirements, and harboring illegal aliens for commercial advantage and financial gain, Justice Department officials previously reported.

He denied the charges and was scheduled to go to trial in January, but in December pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns.

In a phone interview last year, he said he was innocent and that, in reality, he was just an employee of the restaurants.

In 2013, the couple also was fined more than $1.9 million by state labor regulators for underpaying employees in connection with the same case. The violations, which involved 47 workers, included overly long work days, failure to pay overtime and forced falsification of time cards.

According to labor regulators, employees regularly worked at least 11.5 hours a day, six or seven days a week with no meal breaks. The restaurants did not pay minimum wage or overtime. Some employees were forced to falsify time cards and some were paid in cash with no hours reported, officials said.

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 707-462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com.

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