I GOT YOUR BOOP BABY! Can We Talk?

OVIEDO -- Toucan Willie's is/was one of Oviedo's best-known restaurants and sports bar but has closed its doors on its customers, employees, and booked entertainment.  Their Website blames the economy for its troubles when in fact it had a lot to do with miss handling of funds and neglect to paying their dues.

The Department of Business and Professional Regulation, the agency responsible for maintaining liquor and food licenses for the state, the business failed to comply with reporting from May 2006 until June 2007 and the restaurant hasn't renewed the food service part of their license.  The restaurant's liquor license was also in the process of being revoked over $4,571 in unpaid fees.

Pamela Cooke, said she is the current owner of Toucan Willie’s but according to public records, Toucan Willie's does not own the property.  The owner listed at the Seminole County Property Appraiser's Web site is the Gordon L. Kiester Trust.  The Florida State Department of Corporations, Toucan Willie's is a registered corporation. They list Daniel S. Friebis of Port Orange as a registered agent.  The 2007 annual report also lists Christopher Cascio of Oviedo as a registered agent of the corporation but a 2008 report hasn't been filed.

Cascio said that the government should have taken him off their sites as the owner.  He also claimed he had sold the business about "seven or eight months ago" to Alan and Pamela Cooke of Oviedo.  No records of the sale could be found with the Seminole County Clerk of Courts or the Florida Department of Revenue's Websites to Pamela Cooke.

Toucan Willie's had a string of other financial problems, both before the sale and after.  In June 2007, the Internal Revenue Service filed a federal tax lien for $24,437 for unpaid taxes in 2006. The lien was satisfied in June 2007, according to the IRS.  Then, in October 2007, the Florida Department of Revenue filed a lien against the business for $37,733 but terminated the judgment in October 2007 after it was paid.

Not only did they close their doors to the public but also placed further hardship on their employees!  According to one of their employees, Kristopher Denson, they owe him and others back pay and he had also just been informed that the last paycheck came back as NSF in which he would have to pay back that money along with the NSF added on charges.  But this wasn’t the first and only time this kind of thing happened to him and the other employees!  This happened before not to long ago!  Now Mr. Denson and the other employees will have to face the hardship of being unemployed and paying back the money from their own labored paychecks!  This looks to also become a class action civil suit for the employees to regain their losses, extra fees and charges applied against them, and three weeks of payroll dues!

All Pamela Cooke had to say about all this was, "It saddens us greatly but it was necessary to close Toucan Willie's.  We are sorry to all who may be hurt as a result of its closing."

They are in the process of claiming bankruptcy!  What's your take on this?

BOOP-BOOP-A-DOOP