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Columbia woman faces charge of operating without a retail license

Melinda Waldrop //August 9, 2021//

Columbia woman faces charge of operating without a retail license

Melinda Waldrop //August 9, 2021//

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A Richland county woman has been arrested and charged with operating a business without a retail license. 

 

Misty Rose Belton, 42, of 305 Brook Hollow Drive in Columbia, is the owner and operator of MA & Associates in Richland County. The S.C. Department of Revenue revoked the business' retail license on March 17 but found the business open and operating on March 25, according to a news release from the department. 

 

According to the arrest warrant, Belton admitted to operating the business without a license. 

 

Belton, who is being held at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center pending a bond hearing, faces a maximum penalty of 30 days in jail and/or a $200 fine.

 

Also today, SCDOR agents arrested a former Richland County tax preparer and charged him with 19 counts of willfully preparing false tax returns. 

 

Kalunda Kadiri Richard, 40, prepared 19 fradulent S.C. individual income tax returns between tax years 2016 and 2019 for 10 individuals, according to the department. The returns were prepared and filed electronically in Richland County and included false profit and loss schedules totaling more than $311,000 in fradulent business expenses, according to the arrest warrant. 

 

The warrant lists Richard's address as 219 E. Cooper Ave. in Folly Beach.

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