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Last updated on Friday, January 23, 2015
(INDIANAPOLIS) - The owners of two popular restaurant chains in Indiana face theft charges and have agreed to plead guilty for failing to report accurate sales figures.
Owners of the El Rodeo and El Jaripeo chains are accused of under-reporting $22.7 million in sales. The investigation targeted 26 restaurants in Boone, Clinton, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Johnson, Marion, Morgan, Tippecanoe and Wayne counties.
Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry and Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Pat Harrington announced the charges against the three owners Thursday.
Francisco Salgado, Jose Melendez and Abel Bustos have agreed to forfeit $4.53 million to state and local authorities, including the Indiana Department of Revenue and Marion and Tippecanoe counties.
Salgado and Melendez have each agreed to plead guilty to 10 counts of Theft (D Felonies). Bustos has agreed to plead guilty to two counts of Theft (D Felonies).
WTHR reports that the investigation began in May 2013 and included the Marion County Prosecutor's Office Grand Jury Division, Tippecanoe County Prosecutor's Office, West Lafayette Police, and Lafayette Police Department.
According to court documents, an analysis completed on the restaurants' sales for 2010 through 2012 estimated that more than 25 percent of the sales were not reported to the state. Prosecutors say they found evidence that the defendants engaged in a number of methods to conceal and thus under-report cash sales, including "ghost" books, cash skimming at the register by using a calculator rather than the register itself to calculate bills, making change out of an open cash register drawer, and failing to provide a receipt.
About $1.86 million will be paid as restitution to the Indiana Department of Revenue for unpaid sales tax and unpaid food and beverage tax, which is comprised of approximately $1.59 million in unpaid sales tax and $275,000 in unpaid food and beverage tax to several counties and municipalities, including Marion County.
The remaining balance of will be forfeited between Marion and Tippecanoe counties to be dispersed to various public safety agencies involved in the investigation.
Initial hearings have been set for February 2 at 9:00 a.m. in Marion County Criminal Court 15.
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