A New Hanover County businessman pleaded guilty Monday, Aug. 18, in Wake County Superior Court to tax charges filed by the North Carolina Department of Revenue.
Marteke Latwuan Franks, 49, of 132 Lawndale Lane, Sneads Ferry, pleaded guilty on August 18, 2025 to five counts of Embezzlement of State Property.
Wake County Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway imposed suspended prison terms totaling up to 32 months in two separate judgments. Franks was sentenced to five years of supervised probation, which includes conditions such as serving 15 days in the custody of the Sheriff’s Office, serving 75 hours of community service, and paying restitution in the amount of $79,894.22. These judgments are to run concurrently, unless probation is violated, and then the judgments would run consecutively.
Information presented in court showed that Franks, sole member of Fuwangz, LLC, aided and abetted the business to embezzle, misapply, and convert to its own use approximately $79,894.22 in North Carolina Sales Taxes (State & New Hanover County) during the period May 1, 2016 through September 30, 2020. During this period of time, Franks was the responsible person of Fuwangz, LLC and was under a duty to collect, hold in trust, and remit North Carolina Sales Tax to the North Carolina Department of Revenue.
The charges against Franks resulted from an investigation by special agents with the Department’s Criminal Investigations Division in Raleigh and was prosecuted by the Special Prosecutions attorneys in the office of the Attorney General.