A Concord businessman was arrested Wednesday on felony tax charges filed by the North Carolina Department of Revenue.
Charles Joseph Pippa, 64, of Concord, NC, was charged on October 6, 2021 with three counts of Embezzlement of State Property.
Arrest warrants allege that Pippa, President of Pippa’s Café, Inc., did assist, or aid and abet the corporation to embezzle, misapply, and convert to its own use, approximately $139,977.80 in North Carolina Sales Tax during the period of February 1, 2017 through December 31, 2019. Additional arrest warrants allege that Pippa, President of Frogels, Inc., doing business as The Sweet Spot, did assist, or aid and abet the corporation to embezzle, misapply, and convert to its own use, approximately $10,647.33 in North Carolina Sales Tax during the period of February 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019. During this time, Pippa was the responsible person of both corporations and acting as an agent of the State, who was under a duty to collect, hold in trust, and remit North Carolina Sales Taxes to the North Carolina Department of Revenue.
Pippa appeared before a Wake County magistrate and was placed under a $150,000.00 unsecured bond. A first appearance is scheduled for October 7, 2021 in Wake County District Court in Raleigh.
The charges against Pippa resulted from an investigation by special agents with the Department’s Criminal Investigations Division in Raleigh.