Laguna Niguel Man Sought as Fugitive : Tax evasion: Former owner of the county’s Angelo’s fast-food outlets fails to appear for Atlanta sentencing.

Anthony Strammiello Jr., also known as Tony Walter, 51, of Laguna Niguel is being sought as a fugitive after failing to appear in federal court here for sentencing for evading income taxes and conspiring to defraud the government, according to a U.S. attorney’s spokesman here.

Strammiello, former owner of Angelo’s fast-food outlets in Orange County, was last seen by his family in Laguna Niguel on Sept. 24, according to Joe D. Whitley, U.S. attorney for the northern district of Georgia.

An investigation into the disappearance is being conducted by Internal Revenue Service agents in Laguna Niguel. Strammiello had been scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Atlanta on Sept. 25, authorities said. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.

Strammiello was convicted in Atlanta on June 28, 1991. It was his second conviction for federal tax evasion, a government spokesman said.

Strammiello, a resident of Laguna Niguel since 1989, was the owner of Sgt. Peppers, a restaurant and bar in an Atlanta suburb. In 1982-87, he owned five Angelo’s fast-food outlets in Orange County, Whitley said.

Strammiello’s last place of employment was Tommy’s Coffee Shop in San Clemente.

The current case stems from an earlier federal tax evasion conviction against Strammiello in 1978, when he pleaded guilty in Los Angeles to evading income taxes on money skimmed in 1972 from a restaurant, Whitley said.

However, Strammiello never paid the $37,000 in outstanding income taxes for 1972, he said.

In 1982, after the IRS levied against his bank account, Strammiello began an elaborate scheme to conceal his assets from the IRS to prevent the collection of delinquent taxes, Whitley said.

In 1982-90, Strammiello made false financial statements to the IRS and used more than $600,000 in cash to buy personal residences and home furnishings, jewelry, luxury automobiles and businesses, he said.

He also concealed property by using nominees, corporate shells and his alias, Tony Walter, authorities said.

From 1978 through February 1989, Strammiello’s original tax debt grew from $37,000 to about $290,000 in taxes, interest and penalties, Whitley said.

He was arrested in Atlanta in February, 1989, by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms on a federal firearms indictment. Then IRS officers seized a $20,000 diamond Rolex watch from the defendant and $290,000 from a brokerage account hidden in the name of his alias, Whitley said.

Strammiello pleaded guilty to the firearms charges and was sentenced to serve 18 months on probation, he said.