A Jacksonville businesswoman pleaded guilty Tuesday in Wake County Superior Court to felony tax charges filed by the North Carolina Department of Revenue.
Evelyn V. Edwards, 63, of 202 Blake Court, Jacksonville, NC pleaded guilty on November 14, 2017 to five counts of Embezzlement of State Property and five counts of Embezzlement of Onslow County Property.
Wake County Superior Court Judge A. Graham Shirley II sentenced Edwards to a 16-month minimum, 29-month maximum prison term. The sentence was suspended and Edwards was placed on supervised probation for 60 months. As conditions of probation, Edwards was ordered to be placed under electronic home monitoring for six months, pay the remaining restitution of $18,824.15, pay a fine of $15,000.00, complete 150 hours of community service, and file her individual income tax returns for tax years 2010 through 2016 within 90 days. Edwards paid $50,000.00 toward restitution prior to the plea.
Information presented in court showed that Edwards, the owner of Waffle Shoppe located in Jacksonville, embezzled, misapplied, and converted to her own use $68,827.15 in North Carolina and Onslow County Sales Tax from April 1, 2012 through March 31, 2016. During this period of time, Edwards was the responsible person of Waffle Shoppe, which was under a duty to collect, hold in trust, and remit North Carolina State Taxes to the North Carolina Department of Revenue.
The charges against Edwards resulted from an investigation by special agents with the Department’s Criminal Investigations Section in Raleigh, and was prosecuted by the Special Prosecutions attorneys in the office of the Attorney General.