A Carteret County businessman pleaded guilty on December 4, 2023 in Wake County Superior Court to five felony tax charges filed by the North Carolina Department of Revenue.
William Louis Willis, 55, of 707 Arendell Street #B, Morehead City, pleaded guilty to five counts of Embezzlement of State Property.
Superior Court Judge Patrick Nadolski, sentenced Willis to a 16-month minimum, 29-month maximum prison term. The sentence was suspended, and as a condition of probation, Willis was ordered to serve four days in the custody of the Wake County Sheriff’s Office. Willis was placed on house arrest, with electronic monitoring for 60 days, ordered to perform 50 hours of community service, and was also placed on supervised probation for 60 months. Prior to the plea, Willis paid $1,000.00 towards restitution and was ordered to pay the remaining $93,510.69 in restitution.
Information presented in court showed that Willis, a managing member of Katwil, LLC, dba Shuckin Shack Oyster Bar, aided and abetted the business to embezzle, misapply, and convert to its own use approximately $94,510.69 in North Carolina Sales Tax (State and Carteret County) during the period January 1, 2017 through March 31, 2021. During this period of time, Willis was a responsible person of Katwil, LLC, and was under a duty to collect, hold in trust, and remit North Carolina and Carteret County Sales Tax to the North Carolina Department of Revenue.
The charges against Willis 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.