A former Botetourt County restaurateur already facing federal fraud charges and a state bad check charge was indicted this week on new state charges of embezzlement and arson.

Eric Wooten, who for a few months last year ran Galloway's Blueberry Hill, is accused of withholding meal taxes from the state. He owes nearly $3,000, said Botetourt County Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom. He also was accused in an indictment of setting fire in September to his 2002 Mini Cooper, which was in danger of being repossessed, according to a search warrant filed by Virginia State Police in Roanoke Circuit Court. The search warrant sought papers regarding Wooten's purchase of the Mini.

Investigators found papers concerning Wooten's debts in the car, the warrant says. An insurance company gave him $959 after the fire for the equity he had in the car.

Federal prosecutors have said Wooten was in debt from the purchase of the former Peppers restaurant. His house in Florida was in foreclosure, and in January, bail bondsmen who had put up money after Wooten's bad check arrest took him into custody at the home where he lived in Botetourt County.

Last month, after Wooten's stepmother put up her house in Florida as collateral, a federal judge granted him bail on conditions that included that he remain confined to the home of another Florida relative.

Wooten is scheduled to be arraigned in Botetourt County Circuit Court on the embezzlement and arson charges on March 18, the same day he is to stand trial on the federal charges. He is scheduled to go on trial for the bad check charge April 8.