A Wake County businessman was arrested Monday on felony tax charges filed by the North Carolina Department of Revenue.
Joseph Patrick O’Keefe, 53, of 8705 Sunflower Meadows Lane, Wake Forest, was charged on November 1, 2021 with five counts of Embezzlement of State Property.
Arrest warrants allege that O’Keefe, President of Wine & Beer 101, Inc. aided and abetted the business to embezzle, misapply, and convert to its own use approximately $518,776.14 in State Sales Tax (State & Wake County) during the period January 1, 2012 through September 30, 2018. During this period of time, O’Keefe was a responsible person of Wine & Beer 101, Inc., 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.
O’Keefe appeared before a Wake County magistrate and was placed under a $500,000.00 unsecured bond. A first appearance is scheduled for November 2, 2021 in Wake County District Court in Raleigh.
The charges against O’Keefe resulted from an investigation by special agents with the Department’s Criminal Investigations Section in Raleigh.