Cindy Ondracek, the 49-year-old co-owner of a local drive-in theater, was sentenced on Friday to three years probation and fined $30,000 for tax evasion.
Ondracek entered a plea agreement in March of this year.
Cindy and her husband, Jack Ondracek, received more than $2 million in gross receipts between 2001 to 2005 from two movie theaters they owned, but they didn’t file federal tax returns for themselves or either of their theaters during that time, according to the indictment and plea agreement.
They also admitted that they knew what they were doing, and they intentionally concealed their gross receipts from the IRS.
“It is clear that both Jack and Cindy Ondracek willfully attempted to evade their taxes,” according to the plea agreement.
But only Cindy will face charges, since Jack didn’t deal with the couple’s banking paperwork.
“Because Cindy Ondracek did the couple’s banking, she committed the affirmative acts of evasion,” according to the plea agreement.
Several letters in support of the defendant described her as a smart, honest woman who loves her family.
Her sister said that Cindy was the valedictorian of her graduating class in 1979, and she said Cindy participated in many high school extracurricular activities including honor society, cheerleading, pep band, volleyball and basketball.
A film buyer, who has worked with the Ondracek for the past 16 years, wrote: “she has worked at creating a loving home for her family, at the same time she has helped create a safe, dependable entertainment resource for the community.”
Through the years, the Ondraceks operated two local theaters.
They bought a drive-in theater near the Bremerton National Airport in 1986, and they also opened the Redwood Cinema in Bremerton in August 2002.
The Redwood closed in 2005, but the drive-in still shows movies starting at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
According to the website, the drive-in has “three screens and a total car capacity of over 850,” which makes it the “second largest outdoor theater complex and by far the largest and oldest family-owned drive-in in the Northwest.”
The website also claims that it’s “the only outdoor theater serving Kitsap and north Mason Counties.”
