Two Wake County businessmen were arrested Tuesday on felony tax charges filed by the North Carolina Department of Revenue.
Charles Burgess, 47, of 7728 Weathered Oak Way Drive, Raleigh, and Peter Mark-Anthony Ellison, 51, of 4209 Lassiter Mill Road, Unit 250, Raleigh, were each charged on July 16, 2019 with one count of Embezzlement of State Property and four counts of Embezzlement of Wake County Property.
Arrest warrants allege that Burgess and Ellison, as member-managers and shareholders of Lee’s Kitchen, LLC, aided and abetted the business to embezzle, misapply, and convert to its own use approximately $148,823.47 in State and Wake County Sales Tax during the period April 1, 2014 through April 20, 2017. During this period of time, Burgess and Ellison were the responsible persons of Lee’s Kitchen, LLC, which was under a duty to collect, hold in trust, and remit North Carolina and Wake County Sales Tax to the North Carolina Department of Revenue.
Burgess and Ellison appeared before a Wake County magistrate and each was placed under a $50,000.00 secured bond. A first appearance is scheduled for July 17, 2019 in Wake County District Court in Raleigh.
The charges against Burgess and Ellison resulted from an investigation by special agents with the Department’s Criminal Investigations Section in Raleigh.