Restaurant owner gets 4-year prison sentence after tax fraud guilty plea

A Lake in the Hills man who operated 11 Denny's restaurants throughout Illinois received a four-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to bilking the state out of more $3 million in sales taxes.

Attorney General Kwame Raoul said Kenneth Kilberger underreported $42 million worth of sales at his restaurants from 2016 to 2020, which reduced his sales tax obligations by more than $3 million.

The restaurants included suburban locations in Aurora, Batavia, Carpentersville, Elgin, Gurnee, Hoffman Estates and North Aurora.

The fraud came to light following a joint investigation between Raoul's office and the Illinois Department of Revenue.

As part of his guilty plea, Kilberger will also have to pay $25,000 in court costs and fines. Upon his release from prison, he will also spend one year on mandatory supervised release, according to a news release issued by Raoul's office.

Kilberger has already repaid the back taxes, Illinois Department of Revenue officials said.