NORTH WEBSTER — Samuel Stimmel, the 67-year-old former owner of Stimmelator’s strip bar in North Webster, has been sentenced to five months in prison for filing false tax forms.

Stimmel will begin serving his sentence in January of 2017. He was also ordered to pay $61,185 in restitution—that’s the alleged amount by which he underreported his income in 2009, 2010, and 2011.

According to documents on file in U.S. District Court in South Bend, Stimmel failed to report income gained from the ATM in the VIP room of the bar.

Stimmel’s lawyer had argued for a sentence of probation only, citing the need for Stimmel to care for two young children ages 11 and 5.

Stimmel pleaded guilty to three counts of tax fraud in April of this year.

SOURCE: WNDU