Jeffrey Blanford opened The Hollander on Main after Christmas 2016.
Mackenzi Klemann | The Lima News
TOLEDO — Kalida resident Jeffrey Blanford, a dentist and the owner of The Hollander on Main in downtown Lima, pleaded guilty to a single felony count of tax evasion Tuesday during a change-of-plea hearing held in U.S. District Court for Northern Ohio in Toledo.
Two additional counts of tax evasion were dismissed upon the motion of federal prosecutors as part of a negotiated plea agreement.
Blanford was sentenced by Judge Jeffrey Helmick to six months in federal custody and two years of supervised release. He was fined $100 and ordered to make restitution to the Internal Revenue Service in the amount of $927,273.44.
Blanford was named in a federal indictment unsealed in September 2019 charging him with three counts of tax evasion. Federal prosecutors alleged the Kalida man had understated his income by more than $1.7 million over a three-year period from 2013 to 2015.
According to the indictment, Blanford listed his taxable income for tax year 2013 at $106,972; it was actually $491,613. For 2014 the indictment states Blanford actually earned $700,150 — not the $148,236 listed.
Similarly, in 2015 Blanford is said to have earned $899,560, not the $91,614 he reported.
In a court filing in September of last year Blanford was granted permission to prepay $20,000 of his tax debt.
