Tobacco Road Sports Cafe president arrested on tax charges

The president of the businesses that run Tobacco Road Sports Cafes in Durham and Raleigh was arrested Monday under a $200,000 secured bond for allegedly embezzling taxes due to the state.

Raed Abel Amra, of Apex, faces 15 charges of aiding and abetting the embezzlement of state property for crimes worth an alleged $1.6 million in sales and use tax.

Indictments allege that between October 2012 and December 2019, Amra aided and abetted the businesses to embezzle more than $1.6 million in sales and use tax from the North Carolina Department of Revenue.

Amra was also the president of the now-closed Chapel Hill location of the Tobacco Road Sports Cafe.

Amra is scheduled to appear in court on the charges on March 27.