markohatfieldcourthousekillen.jpg

Prosecutors filed a criminal contempt charge against a woman who failed to show up in U.S. District Court in Portland to testify in an income tax fraud case in May. The woman on Tuesday pleaded no contest to the charge and was ordered to complete community service. (Dave Killen| Staff)

When a dancer at two strip clubs under investigation for income tax fraud disregarded a federal subpoena to testify at the trial of the club owners, prosecutors decided to prosecute the dancer.

Lindy Marie Renfro was charged with one count of criminal contempt in U.S. District Court in Portland, which is rarely prosecuted.

Renfro, a mother of four, said she misplaced the subpoena and "lost track of the trial date.'' Her court-appointed defense lawyer Thomas Hester met with prosecutors in an attempt to get the case against Renfro dismissed.

Prosecutors did not accept Renfro's explanations and moved forward.

"Defendant's excuses are not credible, and defendant's refusal to accept responsibility is troubling,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney Quinn Harrington wrote in a legal brief filed in court. "Defendant's excuse that she 'forgot' is insufficient legally and demonstrates a lack of respect for an order from this Court.''

Renfro was interviewed by agents from the Internal Revenue Service in March 2014. Prosecutors hoped to use her as a witness at trial, expecting she might provide "insider'' testimony about the operation of the strip clubs, where she worked from 2007 to 2012.

She was served with the subpoena at her home in Washington on March 11 and expected to testify at trial on May 17. In early April, she didn't respond to subsequent text messages and phone calls from an IRS special agent, seeking to set up a meeting between Renfro and prosecutors ahead of her scheduled testimony.

When she did respond on April 25, she told the agent in a text message that she already gave investigators "all the info I have,'' didn't plan to come in for a trial preparation meeting but would be in court. She never showed up for trial.

On Tuesday, Renfro ended up pleading no contest to criminal contempt, reduced to a misdemeanor. She acknowledged the government had evidence that would lead to her conviction, but she didn't admit guilt.

Prosecutors recommended she spend 10 days in prison, according to a sentencing memo.

They urged the court to impose a sentence that would "promote respect for the law,'' and encourage witnesses to appear to testify as ordered.

Renfro's lawyer, in court documents, noted that his client's lack of response to the subpoena was not intentional. He told the court that she frequently misses her dental and plastic surgery appointments, and her testimony wasn't key to the case. The strip club owners were sentenced to federal prison in October for conspiring to defraud the IRS.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones accepted Renfro's plea.

But instead of imposing a prison sentence, Jones ordered Renfro to complete 40 hours of community service at the Portland Rescue Mission.

She must complete the community service over the next two months. She'll be on probation until it's done, the judge said.

If she doesn't complete the community service, Jones warned Renfro that he would send her to prison and it might be for longer than 10 days.

Kevin Sonoff, spokesman for the Oregon U.S. Attorney's Office, acknowledged that criminal contempt indictments are infrequently used. He said such prosecutions are a "tool'' to "underscore the importance of subpoenas.''

"Trial subpoenas are a serious matter - prosecutors, defendants and the justice system as a whole rely on witnesses honoring their obligation to appear as ordered,'' Sonoff said.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian