Metro East Restaurant and Owners Plead Guilty to IRS Offenses

The owners of a popular Metro East restaurant and the corporation that owns the restaurant have pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to obstruct the Internal Revenue Service in the assessment and collection of federal income taxes.

Lotawata Creek, Inc., doing business as Lotawata Creek Southern Grill, a restaurant located in Fairview Heights, and its two owners, Rodney Archer, 50, and Kenneth Archer, 52, pled guilty in federal district court Thursday.

Rodney Archer and Kenneth Archer each face a total maximum sentence of five years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine and up to three years supervised release, plus mandatory restitution. The corporation faces a maximum sentence of a fine of $500,000, restitution and five years of probation. Sentencing is scheduled for July 15.

As part of their pleas of guilty, Rodney Archer, Kenneth Archer, and Lotawata Creek, Inc., d/b/a Lotawata Creek Southern Grill, admitted that from beginning in 2010, through in or about July, 2015, they altered and manipulated the information in the restaurant's point of sale system to lower the reported cash sales and then did remove the corresponding amount of cash from the business prior to being deposited and reported as gross receipts. This had the effect of lowering the total gross receipts reported on the tax returns and thereby lowered the total taxable income reported to the Internal Revenue Service. Lotawata Creek, Inc. was incorporated in Missouri and is registered as a foreign corporation in Illinois beginning on February 1, 1996.

Lotawata Creek, Inc. operates a popular restaurant located on Salem Place in Fairview Heights and is owned by the two brothers - Kenneth Archer is the President and Rodney Archer is the Vice President.