An Angier businesswoman pleaded guilty Thursday in Wake County Superior Court to felony tax charges filed by the North Carolina Department of Revenue.
Anna Johnson Beasley, 60, of 520 Old Stage Road, Willow Spring, pleaded guilty on June 28, 2018 to nine counts of Embezzlement of State Property.
Wake County Superior Court Judge Michael O’Foghludha sentenced Beasley to two consecutive 16-month minimum, 29-month maximum prison terms. These sentences were suspended, and Beasley was placed on supervised probation for 60 months. As a condition of special probation, Beasley was ordered to serve 30 days in the custody of the Wake County Jail, and was ordered to pay the balance of $55,413.00 in restitution. Beasley paid $25,000.00 toward the total restitution amount of $80,413.00 prior to the plea.
Information presented in court showed that Beasley, the President of Busy Bee Developmental Learning Centers, Inc., assisted, or aided and abetted the business to embezzle, misapply, and convert to her own use $80,413.00 in North Carolina Withholding Tax during the period of January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2016. During this period of time, Beasley was the responsible person of the corporation and was under a duty to collect, hold in trust, and remit North Carolina Withholding Tax to the North Carolina Department of Revenue.
The charges against Beasley 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.