The Illinois Attorney General’s Office has levied more charges against a Central Illinois convenience store chain owner.
39-year old Surjit Singh of Clinton was charged in March 2023 with 2 counts of theft of government property, 4 counts of sales tax evasion, 9 counts of filing fraudulent sales tax returns, and one count of forgery for alleged schemes at his gas stations at the Clinton Pantry in Clinton, Lake Shore Stop LLC in Decatur, Chandlerville Food Inc. in Chandlerville, and the Winchester Food Mart in Winchester.
The Winchester Food Mart has also been in off and on trouble with the City of Winchester over the last two years for allegedly selling liquor to minors. Winchester Mayor Rex McIntire has suspended their alcohol sales and gambling license on at least two occasions over that time frame for the alleged violations.
In new federal court documents discovered on August 16th, Singh now faces 2 more counts of theft of government property over $100,000, two counts of sales tax evasion, and a single count of forgery for similar schemes at gas stations he owns in Pekin and Canton.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, Singh failed to remit sales tax money collected from customers to the state of Illinois. In addition, Singh is alleged to have under-reported sales to the Illinois Department of Revenue, resulting in a criminal sales tax liability of more than $100,000 between the 6 stores he owns.
The investigation was conducted by the Illinois Department of Revenue’s Criminal Investigations Division. The government property theft charges are non-probationable. If Singh is convicted of any of the charges, he faces between 5-50 years in prison and up to a half-million dollar fine plus restitution to the state. Property forfeiture may also be factored in the case.