Acapulco Mexican Restaurant in Lawrenceburg.
file photo
(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) - A lawsuit seeks to allow the State of Indiana to keep millions of dollars and property seized during an investigation into Acapulco Mexican Restaurants.
The Dearborn County Prosecutor’s Office recently filed the lawsuit on behalf of the State of Indiana against the owners of the southeast Indiana restaurant chain which was raided by Indiana State Excise Police in September. The litigation names Acapulco owners Adolfo and Maria Lopez, Benito Lopez, and others as defendants.
“The defendants have acquired real or personal property purchased with money that is traceable as proceeds of a violation of a criminal statute,” the complaint claims.
The prosecutor’s office seeks the forfeiture of $3.8 million and two homes. One is the Greendale residence of Adolfo and Maria Lopez while the other is the Batesville home of Benito Lopez.
A majority of the money being seized, $3.1 million, was listed under Adolfo Lopez.
In the lawsuit, the state requests that the value of the property be put towards the law enforcement costs with any proceeds beyond that sent to the state’s common school fund.
State Representative Jud McMillin, who works as an attorney in Brookville, is representing the prosecutor’s office in the lawsuit.
The excise police investigation alleges that the owners of the Acapulco restaurants in Lawrenceburg, Aurora, Rising Sun, Versailles, and Batesville were not reporting their cash sales. The practice allowed the owners to allegedly skip on paying more than $305,000 in sales tax from 2008 through 2012.
Adolfo Lopez and Benito Lopez are still awaiting trial on charges in connection with an Indiana Excise Police raid of their restaurants last September. Charges against 107 other people, many of them Acapulco employees, have been dismissed.
Adolfo Lopez and Benito Lopez are charged with Corrupt Business Influence, Conspiracy to Commit Corrupt Business Influence, Forgery, Perjury, and Identity Deception.
LINKS:
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