Barbecue owner convicted of fencing checks

TAMPA — The owner of a barbecue restaurant in Tampa faces up to 50 years in federal prison after a jury found him guilty of a fencing operation involving stolen income tax return checks.

Charvester Anthony, who ran Da Best Bar-B-Q in North Tampa and Seffner, was charged with five counts of receiving stolen government property following a February 2014 indictment.

Prosecutors claimed Anthony cashed a number of stolen U.S. Treasury checks, depositing them into his business and personal bank accounts. Anthony allegedly received the checks by filing fraudulent tax returns using stolen identities.

Anthony has had a number of run-ins with the law since 1996, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, including an arrest nearly 20 years ago for driving while license suspended or revoked. Deputies arrested him four more times in the 1990s on charges ranging from petty theft, for allegedly stealing a license plate, to sexual battery.

Anthony's most recent arrest before these charges came in 2012, when he was charged with failure to register a new address as a sex offender.

Anthony faces a maximum of 10 years for each count. He's scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 18.