A Wake and Durham County businessman pleaded guilty Friday in Wake County Superior Court to felony tax charges filed by the North Carolina Department of Revenue.
Thai Bao Doan, 40, of 5308 Lyon Farm Road, Durham, North Carolina, pleaded guilty on March 15, 2019, to one count of Embezzlement of State Property, one count of Embezzlement of Wake County Property and one count of Embezzlement of Durham County property.
Superior Court Judge Keith Gregory sentenced Doan to a 16-month minimum, 29-month maximum prison term. The sentence was suspended and as a condition of probation, Doan was ordered to serve 90 days in the custody of Durham County Detention Center. Doan was also placed on supervised probation for 36 months, ordered to pay a $30,000 criminal fine and complete 100 hours of community service work. Doan paid full restitution prior to court.
Information presented in court showed that Doan, owner and responsible person of TD of NC, LLC, doing business as Menchie’s (a franchise company), aided and abetted the LLC to embezzle, misapply, and convert to its own use $158,019.12 in North Carolina, Wake and Durham County sales taxes during the period December 1, 2011 through September 20, 2017. During this period of time, Doan was the responsible person of TD of NC, LLC, dba Menchie’s, 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 Doan 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.