JUNO BEACH, Fla. — The owner of a popular Palm Beach County pizzeria faces a felony charge, accused of not paying more than $100,000 in state sales tax revenue.
The case was brought by the Florida Department of Revenue against Massimo Giovannangelo, the owner of County Line Pizza in Juno Beach, after noticing multiple sales tax delinquencies.
Investigators said between December 2021 and June 2024, the business owner failed to pay about $123,000 in sales tax.
Giovannangelo's sister told investigators last summer her brother is the sole person responsible for running the day-to-day operations of the business.
A few weeks later, Giovannangelo, 36, admitted to a revenue investigator that he was aware taxes were owed but had no idea how much was due.
Documents also show that, according to the investigator, the business owner had enough money in his accounts to pay the taxes due to the state.
WPTV reached out to the Department of Revenue in Tallahassee. A spokeswoman said they undertake about a thousand criminal investigations each year, which is just a small percentage of the hundreds of thousands of active businesses in the state.
The spokeswoman added that theft of state funds is a crime that reduces the amount of money that goes toward public services at the state and local levels.
The advice to business owners from the state is to file sales tax returns, even if no tax is due. There's a voluntary disclosure program for businesses to report tax liabilities they discover they owe, which often allows them to have some or all penalties for past due amounts waived.
Giovannangelo was arrested Tuesday and made a first appearance in court Wednesday.
He faces a first-degree felony charge of theft of sales tax greater than $100,000, which could lead to a 30-year prison sentence.
According to online jail records, he is being held at the Palm Beach County jail on a $15,000 bond.
