CLEARWATER - The owner of a Clearwater adult entertainment club has been arrested on charges he didn't pay nearly $25,000 in sales taxes he collected from customers.
Randolph R. Lanton II, 35, operator of the Fantasy Nude nightclub, was arrested Thursday morning on four felony counts of filing false state sales tax returns. Lanton posted $20,000 bail and was released from the Pinellas County Jail. If convicted, Lanton faces up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, according to officials with the Florida Department of Revenue, which investigated Lanton. Investigators said Lanton didn't file monthly tax returns with the state for a six-month period in 2001, for a six-month period in 2002 and for all of 2003. It is a felony for businesses not to file tax returns for six months or more, officials said. Investigators said Lanton used the money to purchase property, pay his mortgage and settle other personal expenses.
