Restaurant operator accused of tax fraud

A local restaurant operator has been charged with 29 tax-related felonies.

Juan Manuel Ocampo-Bunola, of New Ulm, is accused of under-reporting sales on his restaurants’ tax returns and therefore under-reporting income on his individual tax returns.

Ocampo-Bunola is the CEO of Las Lomas, Inc, which operates La Terraza in Mankato and Plaza Garibaldi in New Ulm and Redwood Falls. The company is registered under his wife’s name, but investigators say Ocampo-Bunola is “intimately involved in the operations” of the restaurants. 

He allegedly owes $570,000 in tax, penalties, and interest.