ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Former Rockford restaurant owner Jimmy Vitale and his former bookkeeper, Lori Rice, are scheduled to appear in court Thursday for a status hearing in their sales tax evasion case, court records indicate.
Vitale, 75, of Belvidere, and Rice, 53, of Rockford, each face felony charges including four counts of theft of government property over $100,000, one count of sales tax evasion, one count of filing a fraudulent sales tax return and two counts of forgery.
The charges stem from an investigation by the Illinois Department of Revenue’s Criminal Investigation Division, with prosecution led by Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office…