The owner of Zywiec Landscape and Garden Center in Cottage Grove was sentenced to three years of probation Thursday after admitting to a business-related tax crime.
William Joseph Zywiec, 62, of Woodbury, was charged with 13 felonies in Washington County District Court in July 2023: eight counts of filing false or fraudulent sales tax returns, four counts of failing to file sales tax returns and one count of failing to pay sales tax.
Zywiec, who also owns and operates the Haunting Experience at the garden center, reached a plea deal with the prosecution in December. For pleading guilty to one count of failing to file a sales tax return in April 2022, the other charges would be dismissed. He also agreed to to pay the Minnesota Department of Revenue $68,000 in restitution.
Judge Helen Brosnahan followed the plea deal, which also includes a stay of imposition, meaning Zywiec’s conviction will become a misdemeanor as long as he follows conditions of his supervised probation.
Zywiec, when asked by Brosnahan if he wanted to address the court before she imposed the sentence, said: “No, I’m good.”
Afterward, his attorney, Christopher Perske, said in an email to the Pioneer Press that Zywiec is “glad to have the matter behind him so he can focus on running a successful family business in a great community.”
Zywiec’s father, Bob Zywiec, started the business in 1982, when it was called Berryland Farms, according to its website.
For multiple periods from March 2019 through March 2022, Zywiec either filed sales tax returns he knew were false or failed to file sales tax returns altogether, the criminal complaint alleged.
Investigators examined point-of-sale records for both businesses and allegedly found multiple instances where sales tax was either not collected on taxable transactions or was underreported, the complaint said. Zywiec allegedly owed over $215,000 in taxes, penalties and interest, according to the Minnesota Department of Revenue.
Zywiec did sales tax reporting and payments for both businesses. He was told during an audit from 2009 to 2012 he had been underreporting sales taxes collected from the business and failing to remit the sales tax to the state. At the time, he was shown “how to correctly report and remit sales tax,” the complaint said.