Starbuck Bottega Veneta Outlet given year of probation

RIDGEFIELD -- Juliana Starbuck, who pleaded guilty after police said she tried to remove more than $1.3 million from a safe deposit box while federal agents were at her family home in Ridgefield investigating her mother on tax-evasion charges, was sentenced Tuesday to one year of probation and a $1,000 fine.

In addition, Starbuck, 37, will pay the Internal Revenue Service $101,656 in back taxes.

Last November, Starbuck pleaded guilty to one count of removal of evidence to prevent seizure.

She faced a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but when she pleaded guilty, prosecutors agreed she would not serve any time in jail.

Starbuck's mother, Juliana Cole Weber, owns the prestigious Stepping Stone Farm equestrian center on Mopus Bridge Road. Juliana Starbuck runs the farm's equestrian program.

Starbuck's legal troubles stem from Juliana Cole Weber's attempt to underreport her ie to the Internal Revenue Service by $1.1 million from 2001 to 2006.

Weber also failed to pay ie tax and Social Security for her employees in 2005 and 2006, resulting in a further nonpayment of $190,304 to the IRS.

In December 2007, Internal Revenue Service agents arrived at Stepping Stone Farm with a search warrant. There, they found two Bottega Veneta Outlet safes holding $31,870 in cash, authorities said.

While the IRS agents were at the farm, Starbuck left, saying she had to attend to farm business.

Instead, she went to the local branch of Webster Bank and tried to take $1.3 million more in cash the family had put in a safe deposit box registered under the names of Juliana Starbuck and her sister, Amanda Starbuck.

Bank officials alerted the IRS, which sent agents to the bank. They said they found Starbuck with cash stuffed into her sweater vest, jacket, pocketbook and tote bag. In total, she Hermes Wallet had $1.3 million with her, they said.

As a result of the investigation, Weber pleaded guilty last September to one count of tax evasion and one count of failure to collect and pay taxes for her employees.

She began serving a four-month prison term at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury on June 18. When released, she will spend an additional six months in home confinement.

Weber has paid the IRS $625,000 in back taxes and fees and Bottega Veneta sale forfeited the $1.36 million in cash found at the farm and bank to the federal government.

Starbuck's attorney, Brian Spears, could not be reached forment Tuesday.

Thomas Carson, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office, said Tuesday that Starbuck's sentencing ends the investigation at Stepping Stone Farm.

bmiller@newstimes; 203-731-3345.