RALEIGH — Gaming store owner Garrett Tyler Steedly, 45, of the 1400 block of Overhills Road in Linden, pleaded guilty Monday in Wake County Superior Court to six counts of embezzlement of state property.
The state tax charges were filed by the North Carolina Department of Revenue, which issued a press release about the case.
Wake County Superior Court Judge Vince Rozier sentenced Steedly to a suspended prison term of 16-to-29 months. Steedly was also placed on supervised probation for two years. The maximum punishment allowed by state law for these crimes is 29.5 years.
As conditions of his probation, Steedly was ordered to serve 30 days house arrest and complete 100 hours of community service. He paid restitution of $191,388 prior to making the plea.
Information presented in court showed that Steedly, as the sole proprietor of Gamers Guild, 1044 Lillington Highway in Spring Lake, allowed the business to embezzle, misapply and convert to its own use $191,388 in state sales tax from Jan. 1, 2011 to Sept. 30, 2021.
The charges against Steedly resulted from an investigation by special agents with the Department’s Criminal Investigations Division in Raleigh and was prosecuted by Ameshia Cooper Chester, special deputy attorney general.
Steedly, who was represented by Berryman J. Fitzhugh III, had no prior criminal convictions, according to eCourts.