KEALAKEKUA — A former real estate broker is facing six felonies and one misdemeanor for allegedly not paying taxes and not properly paying the people involved with her property management company.
KEALAKEKUA — A former real estate broker is facing six felonies and one misdemeanor for allegedly not paying taxes and not properly paying the people involved with her property management company.
Shellie A. Grace, 40, of Kailua-Kona, also known as Shellie A. Fujihara, operated the company Elite Property Management Services, LLC.
In an indictment, the prosecutor alleged she did not pay taxes from 2010-14, did not properly reimburse the owners of the properties she was managing and did not pay the general excise taxes and/or transient accommodation taxes for some of the properties.
Grace faces one count each of first-degree theft and failure to collect and pay over tax, both felonies, and five counts of willful failure to file tax returns, which are misdemeanors.
The criminal investigation began in 2014 when rental property owners contacted the Hawaii Police Department about her business practices, according to a press release from the Hawaii County prosecuting attorney’s office.
After determining there was possible tax crimes, the police sent the case to the state Department of Taxation, where two investigators continued the work.
The indictment was made on Oct. 19 and filed the next day.
The theft count says she obtained rental property from as many as 13 people and then did not make the required payments. As the payments were more than $20,000, she was charged with the class B felony of first-degree theft. That carries a sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine up to $100,000.
The prosecution came in part from new legal tools created in the 2009 legislative session. That includes the over tax charge, which was passed into law that year.
“Historically, the Department of Taxation has permitted non-filers who self-report their conduct to the Department to work out a payment plan before a criminal investigation has commenced,” the office wrote in the release.
The phone number connected to Grace’s company was not in service.
State records show the company was registered on Feb. 19, 2009, and has not completed annual filings for 2015 and 2016. Grace forfeited her real estate broker license when it expired Dec. 31, 2014, according to the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.
Email Graham Milldrum at gmilldrum@westhawaiitoday.com.