Baxter resident Ronald Ray Wise, the former owner of Carlsona Beach Supper Club on Mille Lacs Lake, was sentenced Friday in Aitkin County District Court on two counts of filing false tax returns.
Judge John R. Solien sentenced Wise to a stay of imposition of five years with supervised probation with conditions. He was ordered to serve 60 days in jail. Wise also must pay restitution to Security State Bank of $39,448.38.
Conditions the judge set for Wise include he will be required to submit a DNA sample, attend cognitive skills programming at his own expense, have no same or similar offenses, remain law abiding and follow all rules of probation. He also was fined $137 for each of the two counts.
The remaining counts in the complaint filed against Wise were dismissed at the sentencing, the Aitkin County Attorney's office said.
Wise, 50, was initially charged with felony first-degree arson of the Carlsona Beach Supper Club and felonies involving fraud and filing false tax returns.
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Wise entered into an Alford plea on Oct. 22, 2014 in Aitkin County Court on two counts of filing false tax returns. The operation of the supper club was under the name of R & J Enterprises, which is the company that filed the tax returns.
A fire destroyed the Carlsona Beach Supper Club, on Highway 18 west of Malmo. The fire was reported at 12:41 a.m. on April 26, 2010 to the Aitkin County Sheriff's Department. Firefighters from Aitkin, Garrison and Isle fought the flames for about five hours but were unable to save the building. All that was left standing of the log building following the fire were a few charred walls. No one was inside when the fire was reported and there were no injuries.
It took fire officials a year to determine the cause of the fire was arson. Wise had his first appearance in court on June 23, 2011, on felony first-degree arson of the supper club. He also was charged with four counts of felony fraud in obtaining credit and four counts of felony filing a false tax return. Charges of first degree arson and two counts of fraud in obtaining credit were dropped against Wise on Sept. 24, 2014.
On Sept. 24, 2014, the Aitkin County Attorney's office dismissed arson charges because the state fire marshal's office failed to obtain and submit fire scene samples of evidentiary value for analysis to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension; failed to provide funds to secure the appearance of out-of-state witnesses who conducted scientific analysis of samples taken from the scene; and failed to ensure that proper fire scene investigation and evidence gathering techniques and protocol were followed.
JENNIFER STOCKINGER may be reached at jennifer.stockinger@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5851. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jennewsgirl .
