Prosecutor drops charges against 107 people in Acapulco Mexican Restaurant raids

LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. - Charges against 107 people following the raid of Acapulco Mexican restaurants in southeast Indiana last September have been dropped.

Dearborn County Prosecutor Aaron Negangard told 9 On Your Side that after an extensive investigation it was determined most of the employees charged were actually victims of the alleged criminal activities of the restaurant owners, Adolfo Lopez and Benito Lopez.

Both Adolfo Lopez and Benito Lopez still face charges. Negangard said he found the pair did not report sales tax and were skimming other taxes and had failed to report $4.4 million between 2008-2012. They reportedly failed to pay sales tax on $305,000 worth of that money.
 
The raids were the result of a 2-year long investigation that looked at five years of documents from the Acapulco Mexican Restaurant chain.

The charges Adolfo Lopez and Benito Lopez face include corrupt business influence, conspiracy to commit corrupt business influence, forgery, perjury, and identity deception.
 
Benito Lopez, who owned the Batesville and Versailles Acapulco locations was in Mexico at the time of the raids, but came back to the U.S. soon afterwards to face the charges. He is currently out of jail on bond.

Adolfo Lopez remains in jail.
 
Negangard also said the pair was exploiting their employees making them work six days a week, 12 hours a day, but only paid them for 40 hours a week. Waiters were given only tip money and when they were given their paychecks the owners forced them to pay back the money.

No further details on this case is available at this time.

9 On Your Side and WCPO.com will provide updates once they are available.