Local restaurant owner arrested

FRANKLIN, Va. - Police have arrested a local restaurant owner and charged her with 11 felonies, all related to taxes in Franklin.

Samina Azhar, 54, and her family live in Smithfield and own several Burger King restaurants around southside Hampton Roads.

The Azhar family has been at the center of several WAVY.com investigations.

Franklin Police arrested Azhar, who is from Pakistan, on Sunday and charged her with 11 felonies for failure to pay nearly $65,000 in meals taxes. Police say the family has been pocketing taxpayers' money and keeping it for themselves in Franklin and Suffolk, tens of thousands of dollars in each city.

Also, the Azhar's employees received worthless paychecks several times.

WAVY.com discovered during its investigation of the Azhars that the Virginia Lottery went in to the Azhars' stores and took back all their lottery machines, because the Azhars were not paying their lottery fees.

The gas pumps at that Azhars stations were shut down for weeks, employees say Shell cut off their fuel supply because the Azhars owed them money and were not paying. Employees also told us other food and drink vendors removed their products because of non-payment.

But, at the Azhar's home, WAVY.com saw one luxury car after another, several Lexus, Mercedes and Range Rovers.

Now, Mrs. Azhar is in big trouble with the law. She's out on $7,500 bond. She also faces criminal charges related to unpaid taxes in Chesapeake and Smithfield.