Taco Habitat evicted from South Glenstone building as owner faces PPP fraud allegations

Susan Szuch, Springfield News-Leader
·2 min read
Taco Habitat at 3325 S. Glenstone Ave. stands empty on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023. John Michael Felts, who was the owner of Taco Habitat and other Springfield restaurants, has been under investigation for alleged Paycheck Protection Program fraud.
Taco Habitat at 3325 S. Glenstone Ave. stands empty on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023. John Michael Felts, who was the owner of Taco Habitat and other Springfield restaurants, has been under investigation for alleged Paycheck Protection Program fraud.

Taco Habitat in south Springfield appeared empty Thursday, a day after the printed deadline on an eviction notice at the 3325 S. Glenstone Ave. location. An orange City Utilities envelope was posted on the door along with notices that the restaurant was closed.

Taco Habitat's owner has been involved since September in a lawsuit alleging Paycheck Protection Program fraud.

Glenstone Marketplace, LLC, owns the land along Glenstone where Taco Habitat was located. The company filed a petition for rent and breach of contract against Taco Habitat and its owner, John Michael Felts, on Dec. 22 in Greene County Circuit Court.

According to court records, Felts did not appear at the Jan. 24 hearing, so the court entered a default judgement. The judgement required Felts to pay more than $63,000 in past rent, real estate taxes, maintenance fees and court costs.

As of publication, a request for comment to Glenstone Marketplace, LLC's lawyer went unanswered.

More:Hot Cluckers closes amid PPP fraud investigation of owner

Felts' other Taco Habitat location in Branson is also currently in the middle of legal proceedings for breach of contract ,with IncredibleBank of Wausau, Wisconsin.

This isn't the first time one of Felts' businesses has been ordered to leave a location.

In March 2022, Felts' restaurant Hot Cluckers was ordered to vacate 3352 E. Sunshine St. and pay the management company more than $54,000, according to court documents. Felts did not appear in court during those hearings, either.

In Sept. 2022, Hot Cluckers was ordered to vacate suites A and B at 1450 E. Sunshine St.

Felts was also ordered to vacate the subsequent location of Hot Cluckers at 4406 S. Campbell Ave. in October 2022, according to court documents.

Felts under federal investigation

Since September, Felts has been facing a federal lawsuit for his use of Paycheck Protection Program funds.

The complaint alleges that Felts applied for 12 PPP loans using several different companies under his ownership or control. The feds say Felts lied in the applications about his companies having employees and being operational when in reality that was not the case for most of his businesses.

More:Feds say Bourbon & Beale, Hot Cluckers owner bought yacht, cars, jewelry with PPP funds

The complaint says Felts also applied for 13 PPP loans using fake identities.

On Jan. 26, the IRS seized a yacht, luxury cars, thousands of dollars worth of jewelry and a 100-year-old Ty Cobb baseball card from Felts, which they say was paid for in part with fraudulently obtained PPP money.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Springfield business evicted from building; owner accused of PPP fraud