Hale also was sentenced to serve five years probation including 18 months on home confinement. Dlott also ordered him to complete 500 hours of community service within three years and to pay a fine of $99,000.
Hale was convicted following a week-long trial in March, 2009 of three counts of filing false corporate income tax returns on behalf of his business from 2002 to 2004.
Hale’s ex-wife and longtime bookkeeper, Joyce A. Hale, 64, of Dayton, was convicted of one count of making false statements to federal investigators and was sentenced today to serve three years of probation, with two months of home confinement. She was also ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and complete 100 hours of community service.
Elbert Hale has owned and operated Cheeks since 1998.
The trial revealed that Hale intentionally understated the club’s business income on corporate income tax returns for the period spanning 2002 through 2004.
Federal investigators testified at trial that they seized a secret set of accounting books from the trunk of Joyce Hale’s car while executing search warrants at the club on May 12, 2006. Prior to seizing the records, Mrs. Hale denied to Federal agents that she had any knowledge of the existence of such books. This second set of books, which were penned in Mrs. Hale’s own handwriting, documented an under-reporting of business income of more than $3.1 million over a three-year period.