Rowan County Business Owner Pleads Guilty In State Tax Case

Today, former Rowan County businesswoman Melissa Anne Fleming, 63, of Cleveland, NC, pled guilty in Wake County Superior Court to one felony count of Aid and Abet Embezzlement of State Property. The felony tax charge was filed by the North Carolina Department of Revenue.

Wake County Superior Court Judge Bryan Collins sentenced Fleming to a 16-month minimum, 29-month maximum prison term. The sentence was suspended and Fleming was placed on supervised probation for 24 months. As a condition of probation, Fleming was ordered to serve two days in the custody of the Rowan County Jail at the discretion of her probation officer. Fleming paid $123,756.53 in restitution prior to the plea.

Information presented in court showed that Fleming, a member of Island Machining, LLC, did assist, or aid and abet the business to embezzle, misapply, and convert to its own use approximately $123,756.53 in North Carolina Sales Tax from January 1, 2015, through May 31, 2024. During this time, Fleming was the responsible person of Island Machining, LLC, and was under a duty to collect, hold in trust, and remit North Carolina Sales Tax to the North Carolina Department of Revenue.

The charge against Fleming 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.