Tue Feb 09 2010
Two retirees who sold more than $1 million in knock-off merchandise and a suspended lawyer who failed to report her income have been indicted by the Franklin County grand jury for tax fraud.
Billy Blankenship, 56, and Roxanne Blankenship, 54, both of Elk City in Pike County, and Margaret Jackson-Rigg, 50, of Flemingsburg, face charges of failing to report earnings to the Kentucky Revenue Cabinet and pay taxes, their indictments say.
The Blankenships, both retirees, made and sold counterfeit designer clothing, purses and fragrances from their Pike County home, Commonwealth’s Attorney Larry Cleveland said.
The couple made more than $1 million during 2007 and 2008 and didn’t report it on their tax returns, Cleveland said.
The Revenue Cabinet’s Division of Special Investigations received a tip and began investigating, Cleveland said. The investigation revealed a number of deposits and checks to the Blankenships for their knock-off merchandise.
“People would write, ‘for perfume’ or ‘for purse’ in the memo line of the checks,” Cleveland said.
Jackson-Rigg, a lawyer, failed to report her income on tax returns between 2002 and 2008 – totaling approximately $750,000, Cleveland said.
Cleveland wasn’t sure how the Revenue Cabinet became aware of the matter, but he said she hadn’t paid her Kentucky Bar Association dues.
The bar association has suspended Jackson-Rigg from practice because she hasn’t paid dues, Cleveland said.
She faces one count of willfully filing or making false tax returns or failure to pay taxes – a class D felony – for every year she failed to pay income taxes (seven).
The Blankenships face two counts of the same charge.
Cleveland said the three face charges in Franklin County because the income tax should have been filed and sent here.
“That’s how I get all these tax cases,” he said. “That’s why I’m prosecuting people from Gobblers Knob in Union County because they should have done something in Frankfort.”
Other indictments by the grand jury Wednesday include:
>George F. Sowards, 27, 407 Owenton Ave., on charges of breaking into the home of his girlfriend and assaulting her.
Cleveland said Sowards broke into his 25-year-old girlfriend’s home Nov. 11 and demanded sex or money. When she refused, he hit her a couple of times, Cleveland said. A neighbor heard the assault and called police, Cleveland said.
When police arrived, Sowards grabbed his child and tried to take the baby with him, Cleveland said.
“It’s a domestic violence situation that went a bit farther than they normally go,” Cleveland said.
Sowards is also a persistent felony offender. He was convicted of theft by unlawful taking in Anderson Circuit Court Aug. 7, 2007.
>David Curd, 24, 120 Marlowe Court #22, on charges of selling marijuana within 1,000 yards of a school.
Frankfort Police stopped Curd on East Main Street near Capital Avenue Nov. 14 because one of his vehicle headlights was out and the rear license plate wasn’t illuminated, Cleveland said.
When officers approached the vehicle, they spotted a concealed handgun and smelled marijuana, Cleveland said.
Curd denied smoking marijuana in his vehicle and said someone else had been smoking it earlier, Cleveland said.
During a search of the vehicle, police found three bags of marijuana in the trunk and $230 cash in his possession, police reports say.
Cleveland said the charge was bumped up to enhanced trafficking because Curd had a handgun.
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