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Owner of The Block arrested on suspicion of tax evasion

Staff report

The owner of The Block motel in South Lake Tahoe was arrested Thursday on allegations of tax evasion, according to South Lake Tahoe police.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officers arrested Eneliko Smith, 37, after the filing of a criminal complaint by the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office.

The complaint, filed Aug. 29, charges Smith – a Las Vegas resident – with one felony count of misappropriating public funds, seven misdemeanor counts of failure to furnish tax-return data and seven misdemeanor counts of failure to pay transient occupancy taxes, according to a statement from South Lake Tahoe police. Transient occupancy tax is levied on hotels and motels.



Smith was in the custody of Nevada law enforcement Thursday and will be extradited to California to face the charges filed in El Dorado County, the statement indicates.

The criminal filing was the result of investigative work by a task force assembled by the South Lake Tahoe Police Department, including several city and county departments.



The task force was organized to help crack down on possible criminal and/or civil violations by those failing to pay TOT to the city of South Lake Tahoe, according to the statement.

In addition to alleged TOT violations, the task force claims that Smith failed to file a remittance form to the city of South Lake Tahoe from January 2007 to January 2008.

The Block motel also owes penalties and interest for the months of September 2006 to December 2006, according to the statement.

In April, police recovered documents from The Block after the execution of a search warrant, according to court records.

The Block, at 4143 Cedar Ave., bills itself as being designed for snowboarders and garnered national attention last year for a reality TV show filmed there for the cable channel G4.

Anyone with information concerning this investigation or related information is asked to contact Sgt. Josh Adler, Officer Ray Poole or Officer Mark Hounsell at the South Lake Tahoe Police Department at (530) 542-6110.


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