Owners of Springfield, Chicopee businesses, deny defrauding Mass. of cigarette taxes

Two men have pleaded innocent in Hampden Superior Court in separate cases on charges they evaded state excise taxes by illegally selling unstamped cigarettes, collectively defrauding the state more than $300,000.
Jin Zheng, 30, formerly of East Longmeadow, faces charges of possession with intent to sell unstamped cigarettes, evasion of cigarette excise taxes, subscribing to false income tax and false sales tax returns, and failure to file sales tax returns.
Thomas Lesperance, 45, of South Hadley is charged with two counts of possession-sale of cigarettes not bearing required state excise tax stamp and tax evasion.
According to the attorney general’s office, the Zheng family sold unstamped cigarettes representing nearly $163,000 in unpaid taxes at their Springfield restaurant, the Fu Soun; while Lesperance is accused of selling cigarettes at his Neighbors Variety convenience stores in Chicopee and Springfield that were not properly stamped, representing more than $150,000 in unpaid taxes.
Each pleaded innocent Monday, and Zheng’s co-defendants, his sister Mei Zhen Zheng, 34, and her husband, Liang Fu Xu, 37, both of East Longmeadow, are scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 4 on two charges each.