The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Karin Breitlauch, 56, of Saylorsburg, and Linda Breitlauch, 62, of Stroudsburg were indicted on Tuesday by a federal grand jury on criminal tax charges.

According to United States Attorney David J. Freed, the 12-count indictment alleges that Karin Breitlauch, a veterinarian and owner of Creature Comfort Veterinary Services, and Linda Breitlauch, the comptroller for the veterinary practice, withheld federal taxes from their employees’ paychecks but failed to turn the withholdings over to the IRS for tax quarters in 2013-16.

According to the indictment, the practice owed $884,925 in taxes due from the fourth quarter of 2013 to the fourth quarter of 2016.

The case was investigated by the IRS. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jenny P. Roberts is prosecuting the case.

Creature Comforts Veterinary Service was founded in 1986 by Dr. Karin-Susan Breitlauch.

Karin Breitlauch started the service by offering house calls.

The veterinary practice was located in the current building on Old Route 115 in 1991. The clinic is open 24 hours a day, with doctors on call for emergencies.

The full service clinic offers chiropractic care, pet acupuncture, orthopedics, on-site laboratories, veterinary homeopathy, house calls, in-house X-ray processing, color Doppler ultrasound and advanced comprehensive pet dentistry.

According to the website, Creature Comforts employs more than 55 people. It has seen over 126,000 patients in its history and currently has about 8,000 active clients.

Breitlauch was named the 2009 Pennsylvania Veterinarian of the Year. She is very active in Rotary.

Her sister, Linda Breitlauch is an accountant. According to published reports, she lost her license to practice law in 2004 after clients told the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court she wasn’t doing work quickly enough for them.

She accepted the board’s decision without objection.

The maximum penalty under federal law for the offense of not paying taxes is five years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine.

Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature, circumstances and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant’s educational, vocational and medical needs.