Twin Cities restaurant chain owner charged in Dakota County with dodging $260K in taxes

The owner of Mexican burger restaurants in the Twin Cities has been charged with dodging more than a quarter-million dollars in taxes and failing to file returns.

Claudia Gutierrez Mendez, 40, of South St. Paul, was charged Tuesday in Dakota County District Court with five counts of filing a false or fraudulent tax return, one count of failure to file a tax return and four counts of failure to pay taxes in the late 2010s and early 2020s.

Gutierrez Mendez currently runs Hamburguesas El Gordo outlets in Minneapolis, St. Paul and West St. Paul, according to the company website. She operated three other restaurants over the past few years that have since closed, all of them in St. Paul, according to the Dakota County Attorney's Office.

Gutierrez Mendez was charged by summons and is scheduled to appear in court on June 18. Court records do not list an attorney. A message was left with Gutierrez Mendez at her business website seeking a response to the allegations.

According to the criminal complaint:

The Minnesota Department of Revenue found that from March 2018 through November 2022, Gutierrez Mendez filed sales tax returns that underrepresented the sales conducted and sales tax owed by her business.

The department also determined that from December 2022 through February 2023, Gutierrez Mendez did not file any tax returns despite conducting business as usual and collecting taxes from customers.

An audit concluded that her total estimated outstanding sales tax obligation is more than $260,000.

When presented with evidence, Gutierrez Mendez explained to investigators in September that "she made a lot of different mistakes in different areas when operating her business."