Florist admits stealing sales tax

Moses Lake Floral fire started in records area

EPHRATA — The owner of Moses Lake Floral pleaded guilty to first-degree theft of sales tax Tuesday in Grant County Superior Court.

Sally Marlene Walton, 63, of Moses Lake, admitted failing to remit sales tax she collected at the flower shop to the state Department of Revenue.

Charging papers filed in court by the state Attorney General's Office stated Walton did not file a state tax return since purchasing the business in 1998.

A Department of Revenue audit found $93,805 in state and local sales tax was collected between January 2000 and June 2004, but not passed on to the state as required by law.

Grant County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Jorgensen ordered Walton to pay $112,224 in restitution, including unremitted taxes, penalties and interest.

Mike Gowrylow, a Department of Revenue spokesman, said Walton committed felony theft of sales tax trust funds.

"That was money paid by her customers with the full expectation that that money would be used to fund education, law enforcement and all the other things the sales tax finances," Gowrylow said.

He said Walton didn't file the returns and pretended the store wasn't making money.

"That's substantial, that that much money was stolen by a floral business in Moses Lake," Gowrylow said.

He pointed to a fire at the flower shop in November 2005, which was later ruled arson. That fire, he said, was largely confined to a computer and financial records area of the shop.

"It appears there could have been an attempt to cover up by destroying records," Gowrylow said.

Walton's attorney, Garth Dano of Moses Lake, said no arson charges exist against Walton. The insurance company, he said, is making payments to repair the damage.

"Sally is a good woman, unfortunately she got behind on paying the state Department of Revenue on gross sales receipts," Dano said. "She struggled as a business person to make it, her husband was in very, very poor health and died two months ago. Physically she couldn't go through the rigors of trial."

Scott Marlow, assistant attorney general, said the fire burned some business records sought during their investigation. He declined to comment any further about the fire.

Marlow said the goal of his office was to get the state's money. They've concluded their work on the case, he said.