Dorchester Times: Regional News: Exeter Couple Gets Prison Term For Tax Evasion

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Regional News: Exeter Couple Gets Prison Term For Tax Evasion

Down the road on Highway 6, Rob and Hope Androyna are well known in the Exeter area. And at one time, they were well respected.

Rob, age 46, is the former president of the Exeter Area Chamber of Commerce and served on the school board. Hope, 43, was the secretary of the Exeter Chamber, a successful campaigner for Exeter's updated swimming pool and an EMT instructor in Omaha and Crete.

But they were mostly known as the owners of Exeter Arms, a large firearms retailer -- one of the largest gun dealers in Nebraska.

Now both are headed to prison.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports the couple withheld nearly $200,000 in state and local sales tax, and today was convicted and sentenced for sales tax evasion and income tax evasion. Robert Androyna was sentenced to two consecutive 18- to 36-month prison terms and his ex-wife to two one-year terms, to be served simultaneously.

"It was just a matter of greed," the judge said.

About three years ago, the couple was making headlines for their booming gun business.

But by March 2013, the Journal Star reports, state investigators from the Department of Revenue started taking a closer look at Exeter Arms, which had been operating in some form since 2006.

"Exeter Arms' owners weren't turning over the sales taxes they collected on the guns and ammunition they sold at the business, state investigators found. Bank records showed the couple took in $3.78 million at Exeter Arms from 2009 to 2012, including $194,208 in local and state sales taxes."

"The couple also didn't report any wages on their income tax returns between 2009 and 2011, which would have amounted to $31,395 more, state prosecutors said at a plea hearing."

The moral of the story is we can all complain about taxes, but we had all best pay them, even if we're urging our representatives at the local, state and federal levels to lessen the tax burden weighing us down.

The ultimate irony is this: When the Androynas get out of jail in a few years, they won't be shooting or selling guns. Convicted felons, under federal law, are prohibited from owning firearms.

3 comments:

AnonymousDecember 18, 2014 at 10:46 PM
Wow! Whiskey Tango at work or maybe I should say mafia wannabes
ReplyDelete
Replies
Exeter losersDecember 19, 2014 at 8:30 AM
What a bunch of losers. Greedy losers.
ReplyDelete
Replies
Exeter losersDecember 19, 2014 at 8:31 AM
They got what they deserved. Greedy losers.
ReplyDelete
Replies

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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."