THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 6, 1996 TAG: 9608060302
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 60 lines
A former bookkeeper for the Jewish Mother, whose accusations led to federal raids in 1994, pleaded guilty Monday to embezzling about $30,000 from the popular Oceanfront restaurant.
In a plea bargain, Deborah A. Shofner, 32, pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement and three counts of forging company checks. Prosecutors say she stole from the restaurant in late 1993 and early 1994.
Circuit Judge Kenneth N. Whitehurst Jr. sentenced Shofner to six years and 11 months in prison, following the plea agreement's recommendation.
Shofner made no comment in court Monday. The 1994 raid by tax and alcohol agents never came up.
Shofner entered the guilty plea known as an ``Alford plea'' - that is, she admitted that the evidence against her was strong enough to sustain a guilty verdict, but she did not admit committing a crime.
This is Shofner's third conviction since 1992, according to court records.
In 1992, Shofner pleaded guilty to unauthorized use of a bank card in Florida and was sentenced to 10 months in jail and ordered to pay $19,303 restitution. In 1995, she pleaded guilty to three counts of embezzlement in New Bern, N.C., and was sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to pay $880 in restitution.
At the Jewish Mother, Shofner forged the owners' signatures on company checks and took close to $30,000 for personal use, prosecutor Pamela Albert said.
Albert said that the bookkeeper did not confess to detectives but that she did eventually admit to the owners that she took $6,000 to $8,000. Albert said Shofner tried to straighten out the matter by signing over her Jeep Cherokee to the restaurant owners.
Shofner is a key figure in the raid on the Jewish Mother in 1994.
In April that year, the Internal Revenue Service and the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control raided the Jewish Mother restaurants in Virginia Beach and Norfolk. They also raided the homes of co-owner John Colaprete and manager Scotty Miller. Agents carted away a truckload of equipment and papers.
Five months later, the agents returned everything, but no criminal charges were ever filed.
In September 1995, Colaprete, Miller and co-owner Ted Bonk filed a civil rights lawsuit against the IRS and ABC agents. They seek $20 million. They say the agents conducted illegal raids based on unreliable information provided by Shofner. They describe Shofner as a disgruntled former employee bent on revenge.
At an ABC Board hearing last year, an ABC agent testified that the raids were based on statements from Shofner and others, but the agent did not identify the others. To this day, it is not known publicly who else gave the IRS and ABC information that led to the raids.
The ABC Board held hearings last year to revoke the restaurant's liquor license but later withdrew the charges and fined the restaurant $5,000 for employing a felon.
In a statement to police in 1994, Shofner said the IRS was investigating the Jewish Mother for tax fraud and drug smuggling. The IRS has never commented on the raids.
No trial date has been set in the civil lawsuit.
KEYWORDS: EMBEZZLEMENT by CNB