Owner of Rochester-area auction business put on probation for failing to pay nearly $800K in taxes

The owner of a Rochester-area auction business has been put on probation for failing to pay nearly $800,000 in taxes owed during multiple years.

Nicholas J. Graves, 42, of Oronoco, Minn., was sentenced Tuesday in Wabasha County District Court after pleading guilty to one count of failure to pay business and personal taxes from 2018 to October 2021. The remaining 25 counts were dismissed.

Judge Christopher Neisen put Graves on probation for five years and ordered him to arrange for a plan with the state to pay the taxes he evaded.

County Attorney Matt Stinson said Wednesday that so far "there is not a specific dollar amount" determined that Graves owes.

"The [state] Department of Revenue was still verifying the filings for the periods he had failed to file, the last I checked in with them," Stinson said. "It is a fair estimate to say that he owes more than $1 million in back taxes, interest and penalties to the Department of Revenue. … He will have to pay that back over the probationary period."

Graves was sentenced under what is known as a stay of imposition. That means the felony conviction will be reduced to a misdemeanor in five years if he successfully complies with the terms of his sentence and probation.

Prosecutors alleged that Graves, whose Mazeppa, Minn.-based Graves Online Auctions specializes in farm and construction equipment, owed more than $796,151 in unpaid sales and income taxes.

A Minnesota Department of Revenue audit in 2019 also revealed that Graves failed to pay taxes for the years 2013 through 2017, the charges read.

Graves was then "extensively educated and advised by the Minnesota Department of Revenue on the correct procedures and his duty to file and pay what is required," the complaint continued.