A Becker man is being charged with 23 counts of tax felonies in a case filed with the Sherburne County courthouse this past week.

 

Jared Neil Brigmon, 33, of Becker — owner of a tree trimmer business called Forever Green Tree Care — is being indicted on numerous charges including conducting sales without a permit after his permit was revoked (13 charges), failing to file a tax return (six charges) and failure to pay or collect income taxes (four charges).

 

All the incidents happened between 2011 and 2015. The complaint was first issued on May 25 and Brigmon’s first appearance in court was June 1. He was given a future court date of Aug. 3 and was released under his own recognizance after posting a $10,000 bail.

 

In June of 2013, the Minnesota Dept. of Revenue revoked Brigmon’s sales tax permit because Brigmon didn’t pay a sales tax liability of more than $225,000 for the sales that were made from April 2006 to April 2010, according to the charges.

 

Despite this, prosecutors say Brigmon continued to conduct business using other business names and he didn’t pay income taxes from 2010 to 2015.

 

If convicted, Brigmon faces up to five years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines on each charge.

 

Brigmon became locally famous a few years ago when in December of 2014, he surprised his fiancé, Misty Maurer, by buying the Bling Boutique store in St. Cloud as a gift. According to reports, Maurer was a loyal customer to the store, previously owned by Joy Brandt and when Brigmon heard Brandt was planning on selling the store due to a medical condition, he wanted to give Misty the ultimate Christmas gift.

 

“When I first heard about it I thought it was a joke,” said Brandt in a story found online. “He said this was her favorite store and wanted to buy it for her and give it as a Christmas present.”

 

Maurer, in February of 2015, closed the St. Cloud store and moved the boutique to the former Becker Thrift Store building in March.

 

The store opened their doors for a while, but the sign on the road outside the building now has a “for lease” sign on it.