KC Restaurant Owner Gets 10 Months for Fraud

The owner of a suburban Kansas City restaurant was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison for falsely claiming he was paying his workers minimum wage.

U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister announced Tuesday that 39-year-old Yong Lin, of Overland Park, was sentenced for falsifying records submitted to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Lin owns the China Garden restaurant in Merriam.

A federal investigation determined Lin was not complying with the Fair Labor Standards Act because he did not pay employees overtime after 40 hours. In his plea agreement, Lin admitted he said he was paying employees back wages but instead paid servers with paychecks to bring their hourly pay up to minimum wage. He then required the servers to cash their payroll checks and give the money back to him.