DENVER — The State of Colorado has seized AJ's Pit Bar-B-Q, which was recognized as a Michelin Bib Gourmand, for failure to pay taxes.
Documents show that owner Jared Leonard owes the state $118,562.10 for sales tax and wage withholdings across three different concepts: AJ's Pit BBQ, LLC., Au Feu Denver, LLC., and Campfire Concepts, LLC. The missed payments date back as far as December 2022, according to the documents.
Last week, the staff at AJ’s walked out, and the restaurant closed. Employees suspect Leonard was deducting taxes from their paychecks but not sending it to the state or the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Gabriel O’Dea and Melissa Wolf were formerly the general manager and assistant manager at Campfire restaurant in Evergreen, one of Leonard’s three other metro area restaurants that closed last month.
“Jared is currently in Mexico,” O’Dea explained. “He opened up another restaurant there. He had been in Mexico, I want to say, for the last five months.”
O’Dea and Wolf said they saw their own restaurant’s closure coming.
“We were back on all of our bills,” O’Dea explained. “The waste management company wasn't coming to pick up the trash. We'd gone through different payroll providers. So, I wouldn't say I was shocked when I got the call that we would be closing within the week.
“We still have not received W2s or any concrete update or advice on when we'll be receiving those,” O'Dea added.
“Sometimes our checks would bounce,” said Wolf. “They wouldn't clear in the banks for two to three weeks. The banks would notify us that there weren't funds in the accounts, and then, if we complained, he would pay us with Apple Pay or Zelle or Cash App.
“People have kids and families, and we were all relying on this money to come back to us because so much was taken out of our taxes, and… was promised to be returned to us in our tax return.”
O’Dea and Wolf are hoping to get back the money they’re owed, move past the closure, and open their own restaurant in Evergreen.
“We're invested in that community,” O’Dea said. “We're looking at buying the space and getting on the lease there, or opening up a spot to service that same type of clientele and bring that back.”
“I think we're trying to stay focused on being solutions-oriented and how we can take a hard situation and make something beautiful out of it,” Wolf added.
Leonard responded to Denver7’s request for comment through a long text message.
In it, he mostly denied the accusations but said, "W2’s from 2024 are a real issue I can address. We used several payroll providers over the past year & it has been a challenge to combine all of the data. I will face fines for not having them done on time & will have to pay for that. Employees are still able to file form 4852, in replacement for a w2 & receive any refund they are owed. They are not penalized for using this form, the burden is fully on the business... Looking back, I should have engaged professional services to handle this element of our business. I will do so going forward."
You can read Leonard's full response at the bottom of this article.
Brian Huebsch, director of Ireland Stapleton Pryor and Pascoe in Denver, is an attorney who specializes in tax controversies, representing taxpayers who have a dispute with the IRS. He said the state seizing a restaurant for unpaid taxes is “not uncommon.”
He advises employees in a situation like those at AJ’s or Campfire to check with the IRS or Social Security if they have an accurate W2 on file. If not, they should gather and send proof of their pay to those agencies.
“It's important to get those, you know, get all of those records, whatever pay records they have,” he said. “Whether it is, you know, ledger from Zelle or, you know, Venmo, or one of those things that shows everything that was pulled together.”
Huebsch said that proof can also help people register for unemployment through the state. However, he noted that the lack of a W2 could make filing taxes complicated and potentially worth using a certified public accountant.
“Other than the inconvenience of having to deal with something that should be automatic, at the end of the day, financially, they shouldn't be harmed,” Huebsch said. “They should be able to say, 'Here's how much should have been or was withheld from this and or in taxes,' and they should get credit for that.”
- Full message from Leonard:
Recently, A post on Reddit was written about us to slander our name and business practices. This was followed by media coverage, & I’ve stayed quiet about it as I review how it all unraveled so quickly.
To address some of the broader stroke claims - every employee (who has ever worked for us in 15 years of business) has always received a full paycheck. In fact we pay our employees about 25% above the fair market wage and have always treated them like family, and they have always engaged with us as such. Company parties, celebrations, charities, public service.. we have always tried to be not just a business, but a community resource for jobs & hospitality. We have taken our company on annual outings, week-long vacations, & have been very generous as owners. I was so tired of the lack of gratitude & drama, I even offered to give the business to my GM free & clear - an offer I’m now glad he turned down & the opportunity will go to someone else. Just goes to show you his intention was not to save jobs, but to destroy a business.
This betrayal and these accusations not only sting professionally, but personally. the follow up comments not only question our overall integrity, honesty, but judge our good hearted nature as human beings. We are far from perfect nor do we claim to be perfect, but we’ve always done our best to make good decisions, even in challenging times. We have tried to steward the resources that God has trusted us with. We built these businesses from nothing. The current staff has worked for us, with no financial risk, & have been paid fairly to do so.
Up until now, we have read, been shared with, & sat silent as ppl hiding behind screen names (without any proof of what they are saying) ..
truths -
Our credit card processor held over $100,000 of sales from us in the beginning of January, citing an “engineering glitch.” This made cash flow tight & led to the closures of the 2 campfire stores & Grabowski’s (making with other factors, but that was the nail in the coffin).
Our trusted GM of 7 years at AJs BBQ, Patrick Klaiber, has been falsely representing to us that he was in process of buying the business from us, only to plan an employee coup will the sole intent of personally damaging us. Equipment has been stolen & this was a co-ordinated attack by the people we trusted the most.
He has been planning this walk-out with a few key staff members for weeks, others were left without a choice & are now unemployed. If he wanted to quit, he could have (in fact he gave a 2 week notice, followed by the game of pretending to buy the business). instead, he took advantage of the situation - knowing we trusted him & knowing that we’re out of the country operating other businesses. Patrick ordered $6,000 of food the night before he chose to close our business, not caring about the wasted money, food, loss of income for staff, & the customers that planned to visit that weekend. He even planned a special event for Saturday with another local provider, only to ghost it last minute. The landlord, the vendors, everyone that counts on the business being open (selling food to earn income) to pay bills - have now been screwed over by his decision to close on a Friday afternoon, knowing it would damage all parties involved.
W2’s from 2024 are a real issue I can address. We used several payroll providers over the past year & it has been a challenge to combine all of the data. I will face fines for not having them done on time & will have to pay for that. Employees are still able to file form 4852, in replacement for a w2 & receive any refund they are owed. They are not penalized for using this form, the burden is fully on the business (google it to learn more if you want). Looking back, I should have engaged professional services to handle this element of our business. I will do so going forward.
Lawsuits . We have been sued throughout the course of doing business.. It’s a frustrating, expensive experience being in a lawsuit - but it seems to be a part of owning multiple businesses & others perception of success & jealousy - along with tough economic times & some admitably bad business decisions . These suits range from a person claiming to be the “co-founder” of Budlong Hot Chicken (public searches will give you all the info you need on this) to former vendors to 1 employee - claiming they were fired unfairly after not showing up for work for 3 days. I have been stolen from, lied to, taken advantage of & threatened - but I don’t sue people. I don’t find it to be good use of my time or resources. I just move on.
This slander is not only hurtful to our family, but it truly alarms me to read what strangers feel about a situation they have no knowledge of. How can so many people - most of whom I do not know - have a position of judgment of a situation they have no factual knowledge of? Do we just believe everything anyone writes online (with or without any proof), & even if there is any truth to anything said - is it anyone’s authority to hold judgment over this situation? It’s traumatic for everyone. The staff will get new jobs, they didn’t invest $500,000 to bills a store. Refusing to follow manager training, guidance, implementing inventory systems, etc all contributed to the businesses failing. I have lost over $1,600,000 in these closures.
Our problems, personal or financial, are our problems. Publicly slandering an individual with hate, malice, & sole intent of causing harm is nothing short of evil. It’s not justice. Online commentators have no authority over this situation. If mistakes have been made, they will be dealt with legally & with those involved. The public outcry over this is a destructive effort to divide a marriage, divide friendships, divide any support or any understanding of the challenges we face. It serves no justice, has no authority, & is only set out to destroy. Justifying this slander as a “warning to others” or “giving us what we deserve” or whatever other reasons have been provided to back-up the purpose of this slander go against the very nature of what is said to be the intent - fairness. The closing statement of several posts refer to us a “Christian grifters”.. I had to laugh out loud as I read that.. yes, we’re proudly Christian. Hard-working ppl that put everything on the line, to open businesses, provide jobs, training, support local schools & charities are definitely not grifters.
Being that we’re Christian & proud to say so, I will reference john 8:7 (related to this public judgment of the situation)… “So when they continued asking Him, He lifted Himself up and said unto them, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”
Jesus was talking about a prostitute in this verse, who was being publicly presented with her sin visible to everyone. They were going to publicly stone her. That was 2,000 years ago. I hope we’ve evolved since then.. but maybe some of us haven’t.
Have I ever made a mistake? Of course. Have I ever intentionally set out to cause harm, destruction, or malice against to an employee, business affiliate, etc? I can proudly say no to that. The people involved in this scandal cannot claim the same, as the purpose of this post is to cause harm to us.
I will deal with the ramifications of my decisions, the decisions of my employees, the recourse & financial stress this has created.. no one else will be accountable for that - I will be. On judgement day, I will sit before God & we can discuss what I have done right, what I have done wrong, & how he sees me as his son. I am at peace with that, this I know.
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