Roanoke businessman Roland "Spanky" Macher today pleaded not guilty to four counts of bankruptcy fraud and one of tax evasion.
 
Macher, 57, said after the hearing in U.S. District Court in Roanoke that he hopes some of the charges will be barred by a six-year statute of limitations and that others won't apply because some of the businesses and properties involved were owned by relatives.
 
With other members of his family, Macher was involved in the Spanky's and Macado's restaurant chains, as well as the Star City Diner that existed in downtown Roanoke in the mid- and late-'90s. Federal prosecutors say Macher did not pay the Internal Revenue Service $277,763 that he withheld from employees' paychecks, and that when he filed for bankruptcy in 2000, he did not report some assets and undervalued others.
 
Macher and his attorney, Paul Dull of Roanoke, said that in the more than five years since Macher was notified he was under investigation, there have been long periods -- sometimes of years -- in which they heard nothing about the case. Macher said he had hoped that investigators might decide there wasn't enough to prosecute and that the whole thing might go away.
 
But with indictments unsealed this week, Macher said he plans to get through the case as best he can.
 
"I wake up every day and look the dragon in the eye, breathing fire up my a-- and all, and I'm just going to get through the day," he said.